{"id":15811,"date":"2016-01-03T18:29:23","date_gmt":"2016-01-03T10:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/whats-next-for-spacexs-recovered-falcon-9-booster\/"},"modified":"2016-01-03T18:29:23","modified_gmt":"2016-01-03T10:29:23","slug":"whats-next-for-spacexs-recovered-falcon-9-booster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/whats-next-for-spacexs-recovered-falcon-9-booster\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s next for SpaceX\u2019s recovered Falcon 9 booster?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The returned Falcon 9 booster flown Dec. 21 is pictured inside the hangar at Kennedy Space Center\u2019s launch pad 39A. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX ground crews at Kennedy Space Center\u2019s Apollo-era launch complex 39A are putting the 156-foot-tall Falcon 9 first stage booster that flew to space and back Dec. 21 through a thorough inspection, setting the stage for a hold-down test firing at the launch pad.<\/p>\n

Workers tilted the rocket on its side at Landing Zone 1, a former Atlas missile launch facility at Cape Canaveral, where the booster made its vertical rocket-assisted landing.<\/p>\n

A multi-wheeled transporter towed behind a truck moved the 12-foot-diameter rocket about 10 miles up the road to the north to pad 39A on Dec. 24, where ground teams put the rocket inside a newly-built hangar installed over the former Apollo and space shuttle crawlerway leading up to the launch mount.<\/p>\n

The Dec. 21 flight, which marked the first SpaceX launch since a Falcon 9 failure in June, took off from Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 40 launch pad and delivered 11 commercial Orbcomm message relay satellites to orbit. The first stage switched off two-and-a-half minutes into the mission, then began a series of maneuvers to flip around and return to Florida\u2019s Space Coast as the second stage continued into orbit with the Orbcomm spacecraft.<\/p>\n

The launch was also the inaugural flight of an upgraded Falcon 9 modified to carry extra fuel and generate more thrust, changes conceived to improve the rocket\u2019s lift capability.<\/p>\n

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The Falcon 9 booster, fitted with nine Merlin 1D engines, is seen inside pad 39A\u2019s hangar at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At pad 39A, SpaceX plans to use the booster as a pathfinder for the seaside launch facility. The commercial space transportation company leased the launch pad from NASA in 2014 and began outfitting it for the Falcon 9 and triple-core Falcon Heavy rockets, as well as future crewed missions to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

The checks will culminate with a firing of the Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad, while it is kept on the ground by hold-down restraints.<\/p>\n

SpaceX has not set a timetable for the static fire test, but Elon Musk, the company\u2019s billionaire founder and chief executive, said on Twitter that the Falcon 9 booster is in good condition: \u201cNo damage found, ready to fire again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The technical achievement of returning the Falcon 9\u2019s cigar-shaped booster stage to Cape Canaveral less than 10 minutes after liftoff from a nearby launch pad with 11 satellites on-board was unparalleled in space history, but proving the economics of rocket reuse requires an inexpensive and swift turnaround to prepare the first stage for another flight.<\/p>\n

It also needs the endorsement of satellite owners to put their payloads aboard a used rocket. Some satellite operators, such as SES, have said they intend to fly their satellites on reused Falcon 9s, but none have committed.<\/p>\n