{"id":25116,"date":"2021-01-02T17:08:04","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T09:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-sets-reuse-records-in-2020-looks-ahead-to-even-more-ambitous-2021\/"},"modified":"2021-01-02T17:08:04","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T09:08:04","slug":"spacex-sets-reuse-records-in-2020-looks-ahead-to-even-more-ambitous-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-sets-reuse-records-in-2020-looks-ahead-to-even-more-ambitous-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX sets reuse records in 2020, looks ahead to even more ambitous 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

In their most active year to date, SpaceX reached several reuse milestones, further pursuing their goal of rapid reuse. SpaceX flew boosters on fifth, sixth, and seventh flights for the first time this year and significantly decreased the turnaround time of boosters, with the quickest turnaround of just under 51 days. Not only is this a record for SpaceX, it also beats Space Shuttle Atlantis\u2019 fastest turnaround time, which was 54 days. Atlantis held the world record for the shortest turnaround time of an orbital class vehicle for 35 years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

2020 also marked several milestones for fairing reuse. SpaceX flew several fairings three times, and reflew a dozen, including the first reflight of a fairing on a commercial mission on SXM-7. They have also achieved more consistent success with fairing recovery. 35 of the 42 fairing halves launched in 2020 had no visible damage after recovery, in condition to be reflown. 7 of those recovered fairing halves were caught in either GO Ms. Tree<\/i> or GO Ms. Chief<\/i>\u2019s net. <\/p>\n

Recovery and Reuse<\/p>\n

Due to the extreme environment during reentry, recovery and reuse has not been attempted by most organizations. However, SpaceX has been working on recovery and reuse since they were founded in 2002.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Parachutes can be seen packed inside this early Falcon 9 interstage \u2013 via SpaceX<\/p>\n

On Falcon 1\u2019s first flight, FalconSAT-2, SpaceX attempted to softly splashdown the first stage. Falcon 1 recovery plans were very similar to how Rocket Lab recovered the booster of Return to Sender<\/i>, using parachutes to softly splashdown in the ocean. However, likely due to the lack of proper heat shielding and RCS thrusters, none of these attempts were successful as the booster was unable to survive reentry in one piece. SpaceX also attempted this method of recovery on the first two Falcon 9 flights.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

See Also<\/h4>\n
    \n
  • SpaceX Missions Section<\/li>\n
  • L2 SpaceX Section<\/li>\n
  • Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Falcon recovery by parachute was never meant to be a long-term solution. Instead, SpaceX wanted to retrieve a Falcon 9 (or Falcon 1) first stage\/booster to better understand how it held up during flight and reentry.<\/p>\n

    Astronomy<\/path>Spaceflight history books<\/path>SpaceX launch tickets<\/path>\n

    (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n

    Following the first two Falcon 9 launches, SpaceX gave up trying to recover a booster by parachute, and started testing the technology required for propulsive landing. Their first test article was B0002, which became better known as Grasshopper<\/i>, which hopped 8 times to altitudes ranging from several meters to 800 meters. Grasshopper<\/i> was primarily used by SpaceX to prove the ability to land by using a hover slam (a thrust-to-weight ratio (TWR) of greater than 1), counteract wind, and divert horizontally. <\/p>\n

    Following the Grasshopper <\/i>program, SpaceX converted B1002 into F9R. F9R was a higher fidelity prototype, with foldable landing legs, grid fins, and the larger tank size from Falcon 9 V1.1 and later. <\/p>\n

    During these test programs, SpaceX started testing reentry and landing burns on Falcon 9 missions, successfully completing several soft ocean touchdowns.<\/p>\n

    \"SpaceX<\/p>\n

    F9R during its 1,000-meter hop \u2013 via SpaceX<\/p>\n

    After a couple of landing attempts on Just Read the Instructions<\/i> in 2015, SpaceX became the first entity to propulsively land an orbital class rocket booster on December 22, 2015 UTC (Dec 21 EST), when B1019 successfully touched down on LZ-1.<\/p>\n

    Falcon 9 Landing Statistics<\/b><\/p>\n

    Since SpaceX first landed B1019 in 2015, they have successfully landed a booster 70 times. While the majority of landing attempts have been successful, there have been some minor issues that have caused landing failures.<\/p>\n

    The chart below shows the success rate by year (percentage of time the booster landed when SpaceX attempted recovery) and the percentage of boosters recovered (percentage of boosters SpaceX landed with respect to every booster flown).<\/p>\n

    It can be seen that while 2020\u2019s booster landing success rate was lower than both 2017 and 2019, due to all but SpaceX\u2019s In-Flight Abort Test being recoverable launches, 2020 marked the highest percentages of boosters ever recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Year<\/th>\nSuccessful Landed<\/th>\nLanding Failure<\/th>\nExpended booster (No Attempt)<\/th>\nSuccessful Sea Trial<\/th>\nSea Trial Failure<\/th>\nPrecluded<\/th>\nLanding Success Rate<\/th>\nPercentage Of Boosters Landed<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    2010<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2011<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2012<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2013<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2014<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2015<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n33.3%<\/td>\n14.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2016<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n62.5%<\/td>\n55.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2017<\/td>\n14<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n100%<\/td>\n77.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2018<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n85.7%<\/td>\n52.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2019<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n93.8%<\/td>\n88.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2020<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n92.0%<\/td>\n88.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Number of Booster Flights<\/p>\n

    Since SpaceX first reused a booster on SES-10, they have been steadily increasing the number of missions flown by each booster. As the Block 5 upgrade to Falcon 9 is supposed to support up to 10 flights with minimal refurbishment,  2020 has seen the number of flights on a single booster increase from 4 to 7.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    SES-10, the world\u2019s first reflight of an orbital class booster \u2013 via SpaceX<\/p>\n

    The ambitious reuse goals of Block 5 have become increasingly realistic throughout 2020. Early in the year, B1058 took the reuse turnaround time world record from Space Shuttle Atlantis, with a 51 day turnaround time between SpaceX\u2019s Crew Demo-2 and ANASIS-II. Shortly after taking the world record from Atlantis, B1060 was turned around in just under 51 days. <\/p>\n

    The average turnaround time of boosters is also significantly lower in 2020, especially in the second half of the year. Since July of 2020, the average turnaround time of Falcon boosters has been 75 days, which is significantly lower than the 225, 224, and 139 day average turnaround times in 2017, 2018, and 2019 respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Year<\/th>\n-1 flights<\/th>\n-2 flights<\/th>\n-3 flights<\/th>\n-4 flights<\/th>\n-5 flights<\/th>\n-6 flights<\/th>\n-7 flights<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    2017<\/td>\n13<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2018<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2019<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2020<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Falcon 9 Fairing Recovery<\/p>\n

    In 2020, SpaceX started regularly recovering and reflying fairing halves. 2020 has seen a large increase in the amount of fairings recovered in seemingly good health. In fact, all but seven fairing halves SpaceX launched in 2020 were recovered in good shape. <\/p>\n

    A number of these fairings were reflown, with some having already been launched and recovered 3 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Year<\/th>\nRecovered Fairing Halves in good condition<\/th>\nReflown Fairing Halves<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    2017<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2018<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2019<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2020<\/td>\n35<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    SpaceX had two booster recovery failures in 2020. The first one, on Starlink V1.0 L4, was caused by incorrect wind data being sent to Falcon 9, causing the booster to abort the landing and softly splashdown in the ocean away from the droneship.<\/p>\n

    The second landing failure was on Starlink V1.0 L5 when one Merlin engine on the first stage failed right before main engine cutoff. The Merlin failed due to isopropyl alcohol residue in a sensor, leftover from the cleaning process. With an engine out, the Falcon was not able to slow down enough to survive reentry. It is important to note, the primary mission on both of these missions was still successful, leaving Falcon 9 Block 5\u2019s success rate at 100%.<\/p>\n

    With an increase in the number of flights per core, a decrease in turnaround time, an increase in fairing reuse and recovery, and 23 successful landings, SpaceX has set a new normal for recovery.<\/p>\n

    This trend is to continue in 2021, with Elon Musk setting a goal of reaching 10 flights on a booster, 10 flights on a fairing, and 48 Falcon missions this year.<\/p>\n

    (Lead photo via Michael Baylor for NSF\/L2)<\/p>\n

    https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/product\/eat-sleep-launch-repeat-t-shirt\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In their most active year to date, SpaceX reached several reuse milestones, further pursuing their goal of rapid reuse. SpaceX flew boosters on fifth, sixth, and seventh flights for the first time this year and significantly decreased the turnaround time of boosters, with the quickest turnaround of just under 51 days. Not only is this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[479,8194,7798,316],"class_list":["post-25116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-falcon-9","tag-recovery","tag-reuse","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25116"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}