SpaceX may be about to take another step in its plan to use space rockets.
The company is expected to launch its 11th batch of Starlink satellites in mid-August, sending 58 crafts from Space Launch Complex 40 to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission is also expected to send three SkySat show satellites to Planet as part of a ride-sharing deal, after the company embarked on a Starlink mission earlier in June. The additional satellites will be used to help bring SpaceX’s high-speed, low-latency Internet connectivity to life.
But SpaceX’s mission could be noted for its impressive use of rocket reusability. Eric Berger, senior space reporter at Ars Technica, required via Twitter last week that the mission was able to use a booster that had previously flown five times. This would be the sixth mission for booster B1049, the first time SpaceX has flown the same first-stage rocket that many times.
As a Twitter user Simon Merton remarked in response, this may be SpaceX’s 100th mission. The website SpaceXStats notes that the company has launched 99 missions. Of these, five were with the Falcon 1 rocket, 91 with the Falcon 9 rocket, and three with the Falcon Heavy. SpaceX’s first successful launch, and fourth overall launch, was in 2008.
Use of rockets is part of their mission to make space flight more accessible to all. A booster landing after the flight saves about $ 46.5 million from the $ 62 million price tag associated with a Falcon 9 launch. This means that storing the SpaceX booster makes it possible to reduce the cost of space flow even less, which in turn can fund more ambitious projects such as a city on Mars.
This booster has flown on five previous missions:
- The Telstar 18 mission on September 10, 2018. The landing marked the first time that one of SpaceX’s drone ships, Of course I still love you, successfully caught more than four boosters in one year.
- The Iridium 8 mission on January 11, 2019. This marked the end of a two-year, $ 3 billion project to upgrade the Iridium constellation with 75 satellites. The landing was also the first successful one of 2019.
- The first Starlink mission on May 24, 2019. This mission launched the first batch of 60 Starlink satellites.
- The third batch of 60 Starlink satellites on January 6, 2020.
- The eighth party satellites on June 3, 2020. The landing after this mission also marked the first time that SpaceX had flown and landed the same booster five times.
The record will come at an important time for the company. This is also the same month that the SpaceX Crew Dragon returned to Earth for the first time with humans. It was also the first time one of its prototype Starship rockets had flown, the ship under development designed to take humans to Mars and beyond. CNBC reported last week that SpaceX employees walked out Friday night in recognition of their recent performance.
De Inverse analysis – If SpaceX can hit this next milestone, it will confirm its ability to further support rocket reusability. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that it was only last month that SpaceX set a record with the same booster.
There is still a long way to go. SpaceX still aims to accelerate its giant times, with a long-term goal of a 24-hour turnaround. The current record stands at 51 days. The breakthrough that SpaceX could help achieve this goal could be Starship, which focuses on full reusability as part of its design and the ability for one ship to support 1,000 missions per year. There could be much more to come.
