The first launch of the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket with folding supports for landing was successful
Yesterday, April 18, the Falcon-9 launch vehicle, developed by Ilona Mask SpaceX, successfully launched a Dragon space truck with a cargo for the ISS. Due to various technical problems, the launch was postponed several times during the month. However, from the point of view of the development prospects of cosmonautics, this launch is primarily important not by the truck itself, which delivers 2,200 kg of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station, but by a launch vehicle. For the first time the rocket was equipped with folding supports for a soft landing. This time, the rocket still splashed down into the ocean - according to Musk, the chances of success were only 30-40%, and until the project team ventured to land the launch vehicle on the ground.
The main task of this launch is to achieve stabilization and slowing down of the rocket, which is necessary for a soft landing. Although the search team has still not fished the rocket out of the ocean because of the storm, the latest instrument readings say that it managed to stabilize the flight and it did not crash when it touched the surface of the water - the sensors continued to send data for 8 seconds after touching until the rocket took a horizontal position. At an altitude of 8.5 km, the rocket speed was 360 m / s, and, most importantly, it practically did not rotate - during the previous launch, due to the uncontrolled rotation of the rocket, the centrifugal force prevented the fuel from getting into the engines, because of which they could not be restarted before landing.
Earlier, SpaceX made several successful launches and landings of a smaller model of the Falcon-9 launch vehicle called the Grasshopper . The reduced model (comparable in size to a 10-storey building) successfully climbed to a height of almost a kilometer and returned to the launch pad. This is how a Falcon-9 full-size rocket will look like:
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More detailed data on the state of the rocket and landing parameters will be available when the search teams lift it from the water. If everything really went well, the rocket can be repaired and reused. It is possible that during the next launch of Falcon-9 they will try to plant already on solid ground. In case of successful completion of tests, the cost of putting goods into orbit may decrease several times. In total, under a contract with NASA, SpeceX must make 12 flights to the ISS. This launch was the third, that is, Mask left nine attempts for running in the technology of re-use of launch vehicles.
The main task of this launch is to achieve stabilization and slowing down of the rocket, which is necessary for a soft landing. Although the search team has still not fished the rocket out of the ocean because of the storm, the latest instrument readings say that it managed to stabilize the flight and it did not crash when it touched the surface of the water - the sensors continued to send data for 8 seconds after touching until the rocket took a horizontal position. At an altitude of 8.5 km, the rocket speed was 360 m / s, and, most importantly, it practically did not rotate - during the previous launch, due to the uncontrolled rotation of the rocket, the centrifugal force prevented the fuel from getting into the engines, because of which they could not be restarted before landing.
Earlier, SpaceX made several successful launches and landings of a smaller model of the Falcon-9 launch vehicle called the Grasshopper . The reduced model (comparable in size to a 10-storey building) successfully climbed to a height of almost a kilometer and returned to the launch pad. This is how a Falcon-9 full-size rocket will look like:
')
More detailed data on the state of the rocket and landing parameters will be available when the search teams lift it from the water. If everything really went well, the rocket can be repaired and reused. It is possible that during the next launch of Falcon-9 they will try to plant already on solid ground. In case of successful completion of tests, the cost of putting goods into orbit may decrease several times. In total, under a contract with NASA, SpeceX must make 12 flights to the ISS. This launch was the third, that is, Mask left nine attempts for running in the technology of re-use of launch vehicles.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/219987/
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