{"id":16699,"date":"2015-01-05T17:59:27","date_gmt":"2015-01-05T09:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/ships-deployed-into-the-atlantic-for-experimental-rocket-landing\/"},"modified":"2015-01-05T17:59:27","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T09:59:27","slug":"ships-deployed-into-the-atlantic-for-experimental-rocket-landing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/ships-deployed-into-the-atlantic-for-experimental-rocket-landing\/","title":{"rendered":"Ships deployed into the Atlantic for experimental rocket landing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An aerial view of SpaceX\u2019s rocket landing barge, named the Marmac 300 and unofficially christened the \u201cAutonomous Spaceport Drone Ship.\u201d Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An ocean-going barge and command ship chartered by SpaceX are stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida\u2019s East Coast in a bid to recover a used-up Falcon 9 rocket stage Tuesday in a long-theorized \u2014 but never tried \u2014 maneuver that could lay the groundwork for a big advance in space technology.<\/p>\n

SpaceX intends to use Tuesday\u2019s experiment, which will come after the Falcon 9 booster lifts off from Cape Canaveral on a space station resupply flight, to demonstrate the viability of the company\u2019s concept to launch rockets and fly them back to Earth after deploying their payloads in space.<\/p>\n

If the rockets return unscathed, they could be refueled and launched again at a fraction of the cost of constructing an all-new launch vehicle.<\/p>\n

Engineers who have dreamed of a reusable launcher have had their visions stymied by technical and economic hurdles, but SpaceX \u2014 a privately-held company bankrolled by billionaire founder Elon Musk and venture capital funds \u2014 says it is serious about pursuing the goal.<\/p>\n

Burning leftover liquid fuel in its propellant tanks, the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s first stage will fly back to Earth after finishing a nearly three-minute burn to send SpaceX\u2019s Dragon commercial cargo craft toward the space station. The descent of the first stage will occur just as the Falcon 9\u2019s single-engine upper stage puts the Dragon supply ship into orbit on course for a resupply run to the six-person space station crew.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s launch is scheduled for 6:20 a.m. EST (1120 GMT), roughly the moment the International Space Station\u2019s orbital track passes over Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

The first stage rocket booster, which stands approximately 15 stories tall, will plunge back through the atmosphere at hypersonic speed, firing a subset of its nine Merlin 1D engines three times to a controlled vertical landing on a barge positioned about 200 miles northeast of the Falcon 9\u2019s launch pad at Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

Other rockets are designed to be expendable and are destroyed during their fall back to Earth.<\/p>\n

Nothing like it has ever been tried before. Rocket engineers from several companies \u2014 including SpaceX\u2019s rocket team \u2014 have flown vertical takeoff and landing testbeds on short hops, and the space shuttle\u2019s solid rocket boosters parachuted to Earth for retrieval by ships in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

SpaceX has also flown Falcon 9 boosters to two successful soft water landings in the Atlantic after space launches in April and July.<\/p>\n

What SpaceX is trying on Tuesday\u2019s launch is more dicey, and company officials are circumspect when talking about probability of pulling off the feat on the first attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cReturning anything from space is a challenge, but returning a Falcon 9 first stage for a precision landing presents a number of additional hurdles,\u201d SpaceX said in a post on its website. \u201cAt 14 stories tall and traveling upwards of 1300 m\/s (2,900 mph), stabilizing the Falcon 9 first stage for reentry is like trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a wind storm.\u201d<\/p>\n