So looking at it now, it looks brand new.
It's got a fresh coat of paint.
You'd never know that it's already been to space.
So it is six in the morning.
And we are on our way to see a man about a rocket.
We are here at Kennedy Space Center to see another SpaceX Falcon 9 launch.
It's a pretty standard launch for them, but that's kinda the point.
They are sending up a satellite for the company SES, but what's extra special about this launch
is that this Falcon 9 has already been to space!
This is basically the entire point of SpaceX landing all of it's rockets for the last two
years.
They are trying to perfect reusable rockets.
So what is reusability?
Well it’s just like it sounds: it’s reusing your rocket after launching it.
Seems pretty straightforward, but expendable rockets have been more or less than norm since
the beginning of rocketry.
Once a rocket takes off, it’s essentially treated like trash.
Parts of it either stay up in space or fall away to Earth and break apart in the ocean.
The problem with that is that you’re throwing away a very expensive investment with each
launch.
Rockets cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to make.
And with each new mission, you have to make an entirely new rocket.
But reusing rockets — especially the most expensive parts like the engines and the propellant
tanks — can help reduce those hefty costs.
But it’s not so simple as just bringing rocket back from space.
In order for a rocket to get to orbit, it has to go incredibly fast.
Thousands of miles per hour, fast.
Robert Braun: To achieve orbital velocity you're talking about, you know, 7.5 kilometers
per second, which is, ah, wicked fast.
And to bring something back from those speeds, you have to kind of reverse the process.
So you have to get rid of all that energy, which means a lot of heat, a lot of deceleration,
a lot of pressure that all has to be managed.
Loren Grush: There are a lot of techniques for bringing back vehicles from space, such
as using wings like the Space Shuttle or parachutes.
But what SpaceX is using is a technique called supersonic retropropulsion.
It’s basically using the rocket’s propulsion system — what takes the vehicle up — to
bring it back down again.
SpaceX doesn’t save the entire rocket though; it saves the first stage — the 14-story
core of the Falcon 9 that holds the main engines and most of the fuel.
Once the first stage separates from the top of the rocket, it makes a controlled fall
back to Earth.
Fuel leftover from the launch is used to reignite the engines on the rocket in a series of burns,
to help the vehicle reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and then slow down for landing.
Grid fins attached to the rocket help to steer it during the descent.
A big benefit of this method is that it can be scaled up if you want to build a bigger
rocket -- which SpaceX definitely wants to do.
The future Falcon Heavy is basically three Falcon 9 cores strapped together.
And all three are designed to come back to Earth.
SpaceX has tried landing 13 of it's rockets.
And so far, 8 of them have touched down successfully.
This ones the second one they've ever landed, it sent cargo and supplies to the International
Space Station in April of last year.
And then it returned and made the first ever drone ship landing.
And now they're going to try that whole process again.
This one is going to attempt a drone ship landing for the second time.
This is a pretty straightforward launch for SpaceX.
It is sending up a satellite for the company SES, which is based out of Luxembourg.
And SES has been very vocal about wanting to be the first ones to fly on a flown booster.
And they're pretty confident that its gonna go just fine.
Martin Halliwell: We’ve tested this thing.
We’ve run these engines up.
We’ve looked at the airframe.
We’ve looked at all the various different components on this thing.
And this thing is good to go.
We don’t believe we’re taking an inordinate risk here.
Loren Grush: A lot of people compare it to flying a plane.
You wouldn't want to throw away your plane after it flies from New York to Los Angeles.
Of course a plane doesn't have to go to space and back.
It doesn't have to deal with the same environmental conditions as a rocket.
Robert Braun: Each one of these stages – the tanks, the structure, the engines themselves
— they’re going to have to be inspected by the same people that built them in the
first place, requalified for flight, probably through some ground based testing before they
go again.
So we’re not talking about landing a first stage and then within hours or minutes, launching
that first stage again.
Loren Grush: Plus, these stages won’t last forever.
CEO Elon Musk has said that parts of the Falcon 9 can be used up to 100 times, but expects
between 10 to 20 relaunches for a single stage.
However if refurbishment costs are only about a few millions of dollars, then SpaceX could
see some cost savings.
Elon Musk: The most expensive part of the whole mission is the boost stage.
It represents up to 70% of the cost of the flight.
Loren Grush: SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell says that she expects a 30 percent savings
for customers that launch on re-used rockets.
Though SpaceX is only offering discounts on the order of 10 percent for the time being.
Martin Halliwell: We did receive a discount, obviously to fly this there was some interest
and there was some incentive to do so.
But it is not just the money in this particular case.
It’s really, let’s get this proof of concept moving.
Someone has to go first here.
Loren Grush: Still when we’re talking about millions of dollars, that’s not an insignificant
price dip.
And any way we can lower costs — especially for an industry as expensive as aerospace
— means more companies can invest in space in the long-term.
Robert Braun: It’s long been believed by the space community that if we can make our
rockets reusable, we could greatly reduce the cost of access to space, we could open
the space frontier.
Loren Grush: Oh my goodness.
Announcer: Falcon 9 configured for flight.
T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Liftoff of Falcon 9: World's first reflight of an orbital class rocket.
Falcon 9 has cleared the towers.
Woo!
Oh my God!
Its flying again!
Oh my Gosh.
And it is a crystal clear blue day today.
Announcer: So what we have so far is a successful launch of Falcon 9 carrying SES-10.
First stage has separated from second stage that is what you see on the left hand side
of your screen.
That's the first stage coming back down once again.
This is the second time we've launched it, this is the second time we're attempting to
land it on a drone ship.
Elon Musk: Its been 15 years to get to this point.
Takin us a long time.
Um, a lot of, lot of difficult steps along the way, but I'm just incredibly proud of
the SpaceX team to be able to achieve this incredible milestone in the history of space.
Loren: We still don't really know the economic implications of reusable rockets yet, but
no matter what, this is a watershed moment for the aerospace industry.
Vertical take off rocket that can achieve orbit has never really launched for a second
time before so no matter what, this is a really historic moment for the space industry.
Rockets!