SpaceX’s reusable rocket completes second return journey
UNPRECEDENTED LAUNCH A used Falcon 9 rocket launches from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida
Private rocket company SpaceX has successfully reused one of its Falcon 9 rockets to launch a commercial communications satellite – SES-10 – for communications satellite operator SES.
Traditionally, rockets are a one-off-use piece of equipment, either left in space or returned to earth and burn up on re-entering the earth’s atmosphere or (under parachute assistance) ditch into the sea, after which they are collected by a ship.
The Falcon 9 rocket was used for a second time when it lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at US space agency the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa’s) Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida. The two-and-a-half-hour launch window opened on March 30, at 22:27 Coordinated Universal Time. The satellite deployed about 32 minutes after launch.
Following the successful delivery of its cargo into geostationary transfer orbit, the Falcon 9 rocket returned to earth, landing under its own power, on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX states that the SES-10 mission marks a historic milestone on the road to full and rapid reusability as the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket. Falcon 9’s first stage for the SES-10 mission previously supported a successful cargo resupply mission, or CRS-8, to the International Space Station in April 2016.
SpaceX is the only private company to ever return a spacecraft from low earth orbit.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
At SMS group, we have made it our mission to create a carbon-neutral and sustainable metals industry.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
