SpaceX is sending in their most powerful rocket again into space. Falcon 9, the most powerful rocket ever deployed by SpaceX is being used for the second time. The speciality of Falcon 9 rocket is that it can be used for 100 times and it will still lift off and land perfectly as ever. The rocket has become the first ever of Block 5 to be re-deployed after its successful trip in May. In its first trip, Falcon 9 deployed the Bangladeshi’s communication satellite. After the successful trip, it landed on one of the drone ships and has been inspected thoroughly before it goes into the second time.
There are many such rockets which are used for the second time but none are used thrice. SpaceX claims that the Falcon 9 rocket can be used 100 times, hence it might soon be the first ever to make a trip into space for the third time.
On Tuesday morning, SpaceX successfully made the launch of Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket. The rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 1:18 AM ET. After half an hour of the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket deployed the Merah Putih satellite into the Earth’s orbit. Moreover, the first stage booster used in the rocket made a successful landing on one of the ships of the company which was placed in Atlantic. This has been the 29th recovery of stage booster which SpaceX has recovered from their rocket launches.
Future Usage
SpaceX is very much confident about making the second landing of the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket again. But, if we go by their claim of launching it 100 times, they need to make it better. The refurbishment and inspection time and cost should be lowered between the takeoff and landing. If this is achieved, the rocket can be used without any problem later on. If the rocket can be flown for nearly 10 times without any inspection or changes, it will greatly favour the usage of such rockets later on with their reduced cost and time.
In an interview in May when Elon Musk was about the issue, he said that “The fact that we had to take the rocket part to confirm that it does not require to be taken off is a little ironic. Since it was the first flight, we need to make sure that everything was alright with it”. On Twitter, when a user tweeted to Elon Musk asking about the inspection, Musk replied that “The inspection was good. But we had to make many things right. The journey back is very difficult due to the velocity which increases. Altitude is easy, velocity is hard”.
It all boils down to what will be the condition of the rocket when it returns back. If after inspection it seems good, SpaceX will have achieved something. Else, they need to figure out some ways to make it work better.
