{"id":16808,"date":"2014-11-26T20:01:06","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T12:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-hopes-to-recover-rocket-intact-after-next-launch\/"},"modified":"2014-11-26T20:01:06","modified_gmt":"2014-11-26T12:01:06","slug":"spacex-hopes-to-recover-rocket-intact-after-next-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-hopes-to-recover-rocket-intact-after-next-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX hopes to recover rocket intact after next launch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"SpaceX's
SpaceX\u2019s reusable rocket testbed \u2014 the Falcon 9R \u2014 touches down at the company\u2019s Central Texas development facility after a brief vertical takeoff and landing test flight. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX will test out new stabilizing fins that could help land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a floating barge in the Atlantic Ocean after liftoff on a space station resupply mission in mid-December, according to Elon Musk, the company\u2019s billionaire leader.<\/p>\n

Hoping to use an operational flight as an experiment to advance the company\u2019s bid for a reusable rocket \u2014 a breakthrough that could change the landscape of the launch industry if perfected \u2014 SpaceX is finishing work on a ocean-going landing pad at a Louisiana shipyard.<\/p>\n

The vessel could be used to wring out how to program rocket boosters to fly themselves back to the ground from the edge of space more than 50 miles up.<\/p>\n

Musk posted a brief description of the barge, along with four \u201cgrid fins\u201d to aerodynamically stabilize the rocket\u2019s first stage during descent, to his Twitter page Saturday.<\/p>\n

Dubbing the vessel an \u201cautonomous spaceport drone ship,\u201d Musk wrote the landing pad uses thrusters repurposed from a deep sea oil drilling rig to keep the barge within 3 meters \u2014 about 10 feet \u2014 of the correct position.<\/p>\n

Emblazoned with a SpaceX logo in the center of a bull\u2019s-eye painted on a black deck, the barge is 300 feet long with extendable wings to stretch its width to 170 feet, according to Musk.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/536262624653365248<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s next launch is set for Dec. 16 from Cape Canaveral with an unmanned Dragon cargo ship carrying more than 3,700 pounds of supplies and experiments for the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

The launch will mark SpaceX\u2019s fifth operational logistics mission to the complex under contract to NASA. The company\u2019s current agreement is worth $1.6 billion and covers 12 cargo flights through the end of 2016.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 rocket set to launch Dec. 16 is outfitted with aerodynamic fins stowed against the launcher during the first stage\u2019s nearly three-minute firing after liftoff.<\/p>\n

After releasing the rocket\u2019s upper stage to propel the Dragon supply ship into orbit, the lower part of the booster will fire a subset of its nine engines for a re-entry burn to guide it toward a designated landing zone in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

The rocket will deploy the four grid fins in an \u201cX-wing\u201d configuration during re-entry, Musk tweeted. He said each fin has the ability to be independently actuated for pitch, yaw and roll control, and engineers added the stabilizers after initially trying to control the descent with cold gas nitrogen thrusters.<\/p>\n