Last Monday SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida and carried six ORBCOMM Generation 2 (OG2) satellites to be placed into orbit. The second part of the mission was testing the reusability of the Falcon 9 rocket, which the company announced yesterday.
Following the successful launch of the ORBCOMM satellites into orbit, SpaceX posted news regarding the status of their Falcon 9 rocket. The private space company has been trying to figure out ways to make these rockets reusable in order to save millions of dollars annually, and CEO Elon Musk believes the rocket's new landing system will enable the company to do just that.
SpaceX confirmed that the Falcon 9 rocket landed softly in the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday when it deployed its landing legs and touched down at zero velocity. The rocket tipped sideways into its final water safing state in a horizontal position. Although water impact caused loss of hull integrity, the company retrieved necessary data to achieve a successful landing on a future flight and is confident they can land the Falcon 9 on a floating launch pad or back at the original launch site. Such a future successful landing would enable the rocket to be reused without refurbishment.
The company conducted a soft landing of the Falcon 9 rocket in the Atlantic Ocean back in April after a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station, but it was destroyed by wave action and stormy seas. With the information they gathered following these two landings, SpaceX is confident they can take the proper steps to avoid having the rocket coming down in such hostile water conditions. They also plan to improve spots on the camera housing in order to gather improved video.
The next two launches for the Falcon 9 rocket are being administered for high velocity geostationary satellite missions. SpaceX says such conditions will not allow for enough residual propellant for landing, but the Falcon 9 rocket won't be conducting such missions when the company finishes the development of the Falcon Heavy rocket.
"We will attempt our next water landing on flight 13 of Falcon 9, but with a low probability of success," the company mentioned in a news release. "Flights 14 and 15 will attempt to land on a solid surface with an improved probability of success."
You can read more about the Falcon 9 landing on Tuesday in this Forbes.com article and view a video of it below.
