SpaceX is a space exploration company founded by everyone’s favorite charismatic
James Bond villain Elon Musk, dedicated to cost efficient space travel and exploration.
They also love to land rockets on these tiny barges out in the middle of the ocean.
So given the vast amount of resources that the company has, why not just return those
rockets back to land instead of a tiny drone ship out at sea?
Rockets such as the Falcon 9 are currently used for space delivery, bringing satellites
into orbit or sending cargo to the International Space station.
Traditionally, when rockets launch into space, they need a lot of thrust to get through the
earth’s atmosphere. Once it gets to the prescribed altitude, the rocket drops its
first stage, relying on fewer engines to get it to where it needs to go.
That first stage then usually burns up in the earth’s atmosphere or perpetually orbits
the earth creating space junk.
SpaceX, however, is dedicated to making space travel cost efficient, and have made it a
priority to bring the first booster stage back to earth to save the cost of making new
ones every time someone at the International Space Station needs a refill.
And when so much fuel has been burned on high velocity missions, it’s impossible to bring
those first stage pieces back to the spots from where they originally launched on land
- leaving the only option for a safe landing to be out at sea.
And that is why we have these really expensive rockets landing on these tiny barges in the
middle of the ocean.
These autonomous spaceport drone ships are located in the pacific and atlantic oceans
and have names like Just Read the Instructions and Of Course I Still Love You.
While it may seem that someone was naming these high tech barges after text messages
in their phone, they are actually named after two sentient starships from the science fiction
novel The Player of Games.
Which is appropriate because this may all seem like a sci-fi dream, but it’s very
much a reality. So see you on Mars, guys.