Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Emerging Tech
  3. News

SpaceX to attempt rocket landing on a floating platform in Atlantic

Trevor Mogg
By

spacex to attempt rocket landing on a floating platform in atlantic space x falcon9 launch
Image used with permission by copyright holder
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said recently his private spaceflight company is planning to land a rocket on an enormous platform floating in the sea.

Its first attempt at a damage-free landing for its Falcon 9 rocket is expected to take place in December as part of the team’s next space launch. The ambitious plan is aimed at developing a safe and secure method for bringing the rocket back to Earth at the end of missions that involve sending its cargo-laden Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. If it succeeds in its plan to develop a reusable system for its rocket, the company’s space travel costs will be drastically reduced.

Recommended Videos

The platform, which measures 91 x 52 meters (300 x 170 ft), will float unanchored at an as-yet unspecified location in the Atlantic. Attached engines and GPS sensors will help to keep it in position.

Related

SpaceX has already succeeded in bringing the Falcon 9 back to Earth, however, unstable landings have seen it destroyed each time.

February’s mission will be the company’s very first attempt at landing the rocket safely on a floating platform. But with the rocket as tall as a 14-story building, it’s clearly going to be an extremely delicate operation.

“When a 14-story building falls over, it’s quite a belly flop,” Musk said recently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s AeroAstro Centennial Symposium. “We’ve been able to soft-land the rocket booster in the ocean twice so far. Unfortunately, it just sort of sat there for several seconds then tipped over and exploded.”

Despite all the planning, Musk puts the chances of succeeding with its first floating-platform landing at just 50 percent.

The SpaceX boss described the project as “tricky,” adding that they should be able to get it right during the 12 or so launches scheduled to take place over the next year.

“I think it’s probably quite likely – 80 percent or 90 percent likely – that one of those flights we’ll be able to land and refly. I think we’re quite close,” Musk said.

[Source: Space.com, Discovery]

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Problem in parachute test forced SpaceX to drop its mock spacecraft
Crew Dragon capsule

SpaceX and NASA are both busy preparing for the upcoming manned test of the Crew Dragon, SpaceX's capsule which will carry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. However, the company ran into a problem while performing a parachute test on the capsule this week.

"On March 24, SpaceX lost a spacecraft-like device used to test the Crew Dragon Mark 3 parachute design," NASA wrote in an update from its Commercial Crew Program. "The test requires a helicopter to lift the device suspended underneath it to reach the needed test parameters. However, the pilot proactively dropped the device in an abundance of caution to protect the test crew as the test device became unstable underneath the helicopter. At the time of the release, the testing device was not armed, and a test of the parachute design was not performed."

Read more
SpaceX and NASA still set for historic May mission despite coronavirus
Crew Dragon capsule

Despite growing concerns over the coronavirus, SpaceX and NASA are still eyeing May 2020 for a mission that will mark the first launch of American astronauts aboard an American rocket and spacecraft since the final space shuttle mission in July 2011, ending U.S. reliance on Russia’s Soyuz program to get astronauts to and from space.

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are the two NASA astronauts set to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon after launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to a statement issued by NASA on Wednesday, March 18.

Read more
Today’s SpaceX Starlink launch was aborted due to engine power issue
60 Starlink satellites are launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Monday, 17th February 2020.

SpaceX has been set to launch its sixth set of Starlink satellites today, but the launch was aborted at the last minute due to an engine power issue.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellites was set up on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but an error occurred during the launch preparation process. At T minus 40 seconds, the rocket was confirmed go for launch. But at the moment of ignition, the rocket failed to take off.

Read more