Photo: SPectrum News
We’re not sure what the Ingress Protection rating for the Falcon Heavy central booster is, but it appears SpaceX is confident the hardware, or at least part of it, could be reused despite taking a dip into the salty waters of the Atlantic.
In the first week of April, the Falcon Heavy took off in its first commercial mission and nailed it. Not only the launch was a complete success, but so was the landing, with all three of the boosters and the two pieces of the fairing making it back to Earth in perfect conditions.
Of the three boosters, only the side ones landed on the ground, while the center, having burned for a while longer to carry its satellite into orbit, came down on a drone-ship stationed in the Atlantic ocean.
The landing went without a hitch, but Mother Nature had other plans and, while the ship was en route to Port Canaveral, toppled it by throwing high seas at it.
“As conditions worsened with eight to ten-foot swells, the booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright,” SpaceX said earlier this week.
The company’s teams managed to recover the booster, and on Thursday the precious cargo managed to reach the shore.
According to Spectrum News, the space company has plans to reuse at least some of the booster’s component on other rockets, provided they check out during upcoming inspections.
In its current configuration, the Falcon Heavy is made up of three boosters, each fitted with Falcon 9 nine-engine cores that combined generate 5 million pounds of thrust. The three, making up for what it’s known as Stage 1, are attached together, with the side cores connected at the base and the top of the center core’s liquid oxygen tank. The second stage, the one that actually gets the cargo into orbit, comprises a Falcon 9-sourced Merlin engine.
The next Falcon HEavy launch is scheduled for June.
Of the three boosters, only the side ones landed on the ground, while the center, having burned for a while longer to carry its satellite into orbit, came down on a drone-ship stationed in the Atlantic ocean.
The landing went without a hitch, but Mother Nature had other plans and, while the ship was en route to Port Canaveral, toppled it by throwing high seas at it.
“As conditions worsened with eight to ten-foot swells, the booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright,” SpaceX said earlier this week.
The company’s teams managed to recover the booster, and on Thursday the precious cargo managed to reach the shore.
According to Spectrum News, the space company has plans to reuse at least some of the booster’s component on other rockets, provided they check out during upcoming inspections.
In its current configuration, the Falcon Heavy is made up of three boosters, each fitted with Falcon 9 nine-engine cores that combined generate 5 million pounds of thrust. The three, making up for what it’s known as Stage 1, are attached together, with the side cores connected at the base and the top of the center core’s liquid oxygen tank. The second stage, the one that actually gets the cargo into orbit, comprises a Falcon 9-sourced Merlin engine.
The next Falcon HEavy launch is scheduled for June.
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