The company Space X billionaire Elon Musk tried to commit incredible – to launch a rocket ISS, drive the first stage of the launch vehicle on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean.
With the launch site at Cape Canaveral at the fifth attempt in spite of bad weather and malfunctions to the International Space Station launched a rocket Falcon 9 private corporation Space X, which should be delivered to the ISS next consignment weighing 2.5 tons in ship Dragon. But this time, attention was drawn to the launch is not the fact that the private carrier rocket used on the contract NASA.
Almost realized an old dream of billionaire founder Elon Musk Space X, dreaming fundamentally change the current structure and decades of economic space launches. Not only that, Musk has already proved: Runs on government contracts quite effectively and cheaply can totally private company. Today its engineers managed to almost what anybody did not do since the first launch of Queen and von Braun, –
gently back to earth using the same jet engine, the first stage booster.
The purpose of this scheme is simple: returning the tank to engine ground and managed not pokorezhit his rocket men can use it again and thereby reduce the cost of removing the payload into orbit, and that was the main goal of the ambitious enthusiast space projects.
This task is complicated and trudnovoobrazima so that they themselves engineers evaluated the probability of a successful return to the 50% level. “The probability of success is low … However, this experiment will be the first in an attempt to safely return the reusable first stage of the rocket Falcon 9″, – stated in the company.
For nearly 60 years, space launches are carried out by the same scheme: the first stage, having worked a few minutes, shoot the rocket and falls in the form of debris on the surface of the land or in the sea. Systems to not break when struck first stage, used in two space systems “Energiya-Buran” (USSR) and the Space Shuttle (United States).
When the space shuttle launch solid boosters, having fulfilled its function, dropped by parachute in case the shuttle fell into the ocean, were caught and reused.
Now, returning them to Earth, but not with the help of parachutes, and like the lunar module, using jet thrust, it was decided to keep the liquid stage of the rocket Falcon 9. The task was complicated by the fact that plant stage had not on a hard surface and the ocean – it is in the center of the Atlantic was posted in advance a special barge. Earlier attempts to plant layout stage with special “legs” company Space X spent on the mainland.
Attempts to put to sea level ended in the same sad: tanks were destroyed on impact and drowned.
This time steps needed to get a “bull’s eye” the size of a football field. “It’s like trying to balance a broom standing on the hand during a hurricane,” – joked in the company.
«For the upcoming launch, we have made a huge platform length of 100 and 60 m wide. From space it looks tiny, but the scope of “legs” missiles – only 20 m. The stage will be held in position by a motor, but it is difficult – we will interfere with GPS errors and big waves, “- said the mask.
difficult and construction barges. To hold her in place by means of four water jets – a technology borrowed from the deepwater drilling platforms, which allows you to hold the barge in place up to 3 m.
It is understood that the returned loses stage and carrying capacity, because it is necessary to not fully produce rocket fuel in deriving the rest of the rocket.
weight loss in output is 10-30%, but it can be compensated by an improved second stage, said” Gazeta.ru “editor of” Space News “Igor Afanasyev.
Shortly after start Elon Musk wrote in his Twitter: “Rocket held on to the barge, but the landing was hard. Close, but no. There is a lot of work ».
The company Space X will work out technology during the new launches, while continuing to promise that they will soon become cheaper and more accessible.
« Everything will depend on the safety level, After all, the shuttle thick-saving design, and specialists of concern is the fact that the first stage of “Falcon” thin wall thickness of a few millimeters. We can assume that if the stage will be used at least 2 times (and its cost is 60-70% of the rocket), the price of a kilogram of cargo output may fall into orbit twice. They claim that they can reduce the price by 10 times, I believe that a more realistic prospect – twice “, – says Afanasyev.
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