Elon Musk reveals plan to catch SpaceX rockets on launchpad so they can set off again in an hour
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.SpaceX is planning to be able to catch rockets on their launchpads so they can take off again within an hour, Elon Musk has said.
The proposal would mean the Super Heavy rockets, which are currently in development, would fall back down to Earth and be caught by the launch tower arm that holds the rockets up before they take off.
Mr Musk revealed the plan as he reiterated his idea that the ultimate mission of SpaceX is to build around "1,000 Starships to create a self-sustaining city on Mars".
Re-usable rockets are key to SpaceX’s plans for that cheaper and easier space travel. By allowing them to fall safely back down to Earth to be refilled and sent off again, SpaceX is able to drastically reduce the cost and work of each launch.
But until now those rockets have landed themselves on their own legs. The current Falcon 9 rockets land themselves on their own legs ready for re-use.
But in a series of tweets Mr Musk said that the upcoming Super Heavy rockets will still use their engines to control their descent, but bring themselves in to land back on that tower arm.
Such a landing would require precise steering, and Mr Musk suggested the grid fins on the body would help orient it so that it was able to land back on the launchpad it had taken off from.
Doing so would allow the rockets to do without the legs that are currently required, in turn helping save both mass and cost.
But it would also allow for the rocket to be immediately put back onto the launch mount and be ready to go again, Mr Musk said. That would allow it to be “ready to refly in under an hour”, he said in the posts.
The comments came in response to a follow who had asked Mr Musk whether a simulated landing of the Super Heavy seemed to be accurate.
In response, Mr Musk said that it wasn’t, because the company was planning to “try” the process of landing back where the rocket had originally set off from.
In the same series of tweets, in response to a question about the SN9 or Starship rocket, Mr Musk reiterated the plan for 1,000 of the rockets that would ferry people to Mars.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments