SpaceX to re-launch rocket from Cape Canaveral this year
We know SpaceX can land rockets: The company has recovered six of the nine Falcon 9 boosters it has launched since December, returning them to land and sea, on missions to high orbits and low ones.
The big question is whether those rockets can be flown again, fulfilling CEO Elon Musk’s vision for reusable launchers that slash the cost of reaching space.
SpaceX hopes to prove they can before the end of this year.
On Tuesday, Luxembourg-based SES announced a deal with SpaceX to launch a commercial communications satellite on the first used — or what the companies prefer to call “flight proven” — Falcon booster.
"We believe reusable rockets will open up a new era of spaceflight, and make access to space more efficient in terms of cost and manifest management,” said Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer for SES, one of the world's largest satellite operators with more than 50 in orbit.
SpaceX plans Sept. 3 launch from Cape Canaveral
The challenging mission is expected to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the fourth quarter of this year.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX landed on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean during an April launch of International Space Station supplies will be paired with a new upper stage.
It’s not the first time SES has taken a chance on SpaceX, something Musk expressed gratitude for on Tuesday.
“Thanks for the longstanding faith in SpaceX," he said on Twitter. "We very much look forward to doing this milestone flight with you.”
In late 2013, SES was the first company to launch a commercial satellite to a high orbit more than 22,000 miles above the equator on a Falcon 9 rocket. In March, SES was the first to entrust such a mission to an upgraded version of the Falcon 9, less than a year after the rocket had suffered its only failure.
Halliwell said then that he was intrigued by the prospect of flying on a recovered Falcon 9.
The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal announced Tuesday, which likely gives SES a sizable discount for accepting more risk with a first-of-its-kind rocket.
A successful launch of the SES-10 communications satellite would be a major accomplishment showing that large, orbital rockets can be reused, and for meaningful missions.
Already, Blue Origin, the firm founded by Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, has launched and landed a smaller, suborbital rocket four times on test flights.
SES Chief Technology Officer Martin Halliwell
But even if the SES mission goes well, it will take many more flights to know if reusable rockets can deliver the promised industry revolution.
“It’s going to be a really high-profile, historic event,” said Ryan Kobrick, assistant professor of Commercial Space Operations at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. “The key is going to be what are the actual cost savings, and how many years, or how many flights, will it take for them to make it pay off.”
SpaceX says the Falcon 9’s first stage, including nine Merlin main engines, represents the majority of its cost. But it’s not yet clear how much refurbishment the stages need between launches, and how often they can re-fly.
Musk insists rockets ultimately must operate more like airplanes, essentially just needing to be hosed down and refueled between flights, something that will take time to perfect.
“In order for us to really open up access to space, we’ve got to achieve full and rapid reusability,” he said after the Falcon 9 landing in April. “This will take us a few years to make that smooth and make it efficient, but I think it’s proven that it can work.”
SpaceX recently placed the first booster it landed, in December, on display as a monument outside company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, anticipating its historical significance.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at facebook.com/jamesdeanspace.