SpaceX's New Ultra-Reusable Rocket Could Shape the Future of Mankind

Main Image: SpaceX is working on the most powerful rocket of all time, the Big Falcon Rocket, for trips to Mars. Credit: SpaceX

When the SpaceX of Elon Musk launched its first Falcon 9 rocket in 2010, it was considered an innovative venture by a technology entrepreneur that would be little more than a technological demonstration. Nobody thought it would become the de facto rocket to orbit satellites, and even people.

Exactly 54 launches later, SpaceX has become famous around the world for its reusable rockets, with their scrapped boosters landing launch pad, or on offshore drone ships. Up to now, about 20 first-stage boosters, equipped with engines and fuel tanks, have been recovered

SpaceX aims to both dominate the commercial rocket launch industry and make spaceflight more efficient and affordable to pursue Musk's interplanetary ambitions . However, one obstacle to these ambitions is that the standard boosters of a Falcon 9 rocket can only be reused twice.

Spot the new SpaceX Block 5 boosters, which can be reused no less than 10 times – and maybe up to 100 times. They have the potential to change everything.

What is a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket?

The new Falcon 9 Block 5 is probably the final version of a product that has been gradually upgraded and developed with the same state of mind as that of Silicon Valley. SpaceX strives to constantly improve its rockets, making them more reusable and more powerful, and Block 5 features a whole series of improvements.

Technically known as a "medium-orbit two-stage launcher", the fifth and latest version of the Falcon 9 allows 10 times each of the first-stage thrusters to be used. Equally important, they can be cleaned up and ready to go in a few weeks rather than in a few months, which is revolutionary in the rocket sector. However, Musk has publicly stated that he thought that a first step of Block 5 could be launched 100 times

This kind of reuse could, in the long run, make spaceflight much cheaper. However, the largest upgrade brought by Block 5 is perhaps a new turbopump, which was attributed to a catastrophic failure of a Falcon 9 in 2016.

Why the Falcon 9 Block 5 is it so important? the reliability of the Falcon 9 Block 5 – a decade in the making – is to impress NASA. The new final version of Falcon 9 with Block 5 will probably be used to launch humans into space since US Sol, which has not happened since the launch of NASA 's Space Shuttle in July 2011.

In theory, this could happen early September 2019. "Falcon 9, with the Dragon spaceship, was designed from the ground up to deliver humans in space, and as part of an agreement with NASA, SpaceX is actively working towards this goal, "says the SpaceX website. Space station "class =" lazy-image lazy-image-loading lazyload optional-image "onerror =" this.parentNode.replaceChild (window.missingImage (), this) "sizes =" auto "data-normal =" https: / /vanilla.futurecdn.net/techradar/media/img/missing-image.svg "data-src =" https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/L77H6CPpTLLHmFuALmbfeR-320-80.jpg "data-srcset = "https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/L77H6CPpTLLHmFuALmbfeR-320-80.jpg 320w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/L77H6CPpTLLHmFuALmbfeR-650-80.jpg 650w" data-sizes = "auto" data-original-mos = "https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/L77H6CPpTLLHmFuALmbfeR.jpg" data-pin-media = "https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ L77H6CPpTLLHmFuALmbfeR.jpg "/>

(Image: © NASA)

In addition to manned space missions, improvements to the 5 will also allow SpaceX to request more contracts from the Pentagon, as the $ 290 million ord launch three satellites of the next-generation Air-Force Global Positioning System (GPS), dubbed GPS-III. Until now, United Launch Alliance (ULA) – the main US competitor of SpaceX in launching commercial rockets – has had the monopoly of these contracts.

Has the Falcon 9 Block 5 already flown?

It was believed that SpaceX had used its new rocket for the first time on May 11, 2018, when SpaceX orbited the Kennedy Space Center's Bangabandhu-1 telecommunications satellite before landing on the spacecraft's spacecraft. SpaceX in the Atlantic Ocean; "Apparently, SpaceX has not piloted its latest Block 5 rocket – it has decided after this launch that it will add a final component that the Falcon 9 needs to meet the same requirements." Says Laura Forczyk Astralytical, a space research, analysis and consulting company in the United States

NASA wants SpaceX to install this turbopump and see the rocket fly seven times without fail. "Technically, the first flight of the Block 5 rocket does not count because it was not the final configuration, "explains Forczyk." But it's still a very impressive update. "

Is this that a Falcon 9 Block 5 will take astronauts into space?

Probably, but we still do not know when. SpaceX should send a test flight into orbit in December 2018 in a capsule Dragon at the top of a Falcon 9 Block 5. His competitor for the NASA contract is Boeing, who will perform a similar test flight in January 2019 with its CST-100 Starliner. space capsule and an Atlas V rocket of the ULA. However, both companies – and NASA – seem to be dragging their feet.

"SpaceX and Boeing are neck and neck in the delays they announce," says Forczyk. "It should have already happened." An independent assessment has recently predicted that crewed space flights will occur by the end of 2019. "My best guess is 2020," says Forczyk. SpaceX has also delayed plans to send tourists into the space around the moon.

Why delays? SpaceX has been busy doing something else.

What about Falcon Heavy and the Big Falcon Rocket?

Despite their superb features, Falcon 9 rockets generally do not leave low Earth orbit unless they are tied together. make a Falcon Heavy rocket. The world's most powerful operational rocket, Falcon Heavy, was successfully tested in February 2018. However, what Musk really wants his engineers to focus on is to develop the massive Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) – and fully reusable for tests in 2020.

"The Heavy Falcon is an intermediate rocket – SpaceX does not have the intention of putting humans on that one," says Forczyk. This is not the case for the BFR, which is nothing more than an interplanetary spacecraft, with a planned takeoff thrust of about twice that of the Saturn rockets. V who took Apollo astronauts to the moon. "The BFR is what they intend to use to go to the Moon and Mars, which has been the SpaceX plan since the beginning," says Forczyk.

The new and better reusability of Falcon 9 should mean greater profits for SpaceX, and therefore more money that can be spent on developing the BFR.

When will the next SpaceX launch?

It would be June 29, 2018, when a Falcon 9 will send a Dragon capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Called CRS15 because it is the fifteenth mission of its kind in SpaceX's contract with NASA as part of its commercial replenishment service contract, the capsule will contain scientific supplies and experiments. SpaceX has been sending dragons to the ISS since 2012.

However, the CRS-15 will use an "old" block 4, which SpaceX will not catch and re-use. This is the third consecutive launch that uses – and loses – Falcon 9 Block 4 rockets.

He may have invented the concept of reusable rockets, but when you have a new toy to house, you need to clear a little space. If Falcon 9 was the prototype, the improvements to Block 5 make it a reality: a highly reusable rocket that will eventually make spaceflight cheaper and more frequent. Almost everything is now in place for cheaper and more frequent space flights.

The missing piece in the puzzle? It would be a fierce competitor for SpaceX, who would be willing to cut prices and develop the satellite and space tourism market, which would eventually lead to lower prices in the rocket business. Can you think of someone who could be qualified? Just a few miles from the Kennedy Space Center and the SpaceX launch facility, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has just moved into a new reusable rocket manufacturing facility.

The price war of reusable rockets arrives.

The Next Up Series by TechRadar is brought to you in association with Honor