On Feb. 6, the most powerful rocket in the world, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, launched for the first time from the historic LC-39 launch site at the John F. Kennedy Space Centre—the same place where, almost 50 years ago, NASA sent men to the moon.
The payload was SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla Roadster, playing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” from its speakers, and carrying a copy of the novel, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in the glovebox. With a spacesuit-clad ‘Starman’ crash test dummy at the wheel, the car is now destined to pass by Mars.
Falcon Heavy was partially recycled, with both of its side boosters having previously flown on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 missions. They were successfully recovered after the launch, following the boosters’ impressively synchronized landing at Cape Canaveral, FL. Unfortunately, the reusable centre core, which was a new design from SpaceX, experienced an anomaly during re-entry and hit the water at almost 500 km/h. This was no surprise for SpaceX where maiden flights are notoriously risky for spacecrafts.
Overall, the mission was deemed a success, and the Falcon Heavy is now the most powerful rocket in the world, capable of lifting 64 tons to low-Earth orbit for only $90 million per launch. It is also the most cost-effective for its size—the next most powerful rocket is the Delta IV Heavy, which lifts only 29 tons for the staggering price of $400 million per launch.
This launch would have been unheard of in the 1960s, during the days of the Space Race, when space programs were run by governments. Rocket technology has advanced significantly with increased privatization, but access to space is still extremely expensive.
Space launch systems are among the most complicated machines in the world, and sending something to orbit is inherently difficult. Since rockets break up in the atmosphere after use, a new one must be constructed for each launch, so they typically carry a price tag of over $100 million at the low-end.
SpaceX wants to change that, and their solution is simple. if rockets were used more than once, then the cost per launch would go down. Despite immense technological challenges, their idea is working.
Three years ago, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket wowed the world when it landed its first stage, (the largest and most expensive part of a rocket) on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Two years after that, they launched their first Falcon 9 rocket with a previously-flown first stage, setting an example for true reusability.
SpaceX has lowered the price of their Falcon 9 rocket to $62 million. This may seem like a lot, until you look at the similarly-sized Atlas V built by the United Launch Alliance, which costs at least $102 million.
Reusability is working, and it’s making access to space cheaper.
With the introduction of the Falcon Heavy, humanity now has a renewed opportunity to send large payloads to the moon or Mars, which is essential for human exploration, and eventually, colonization. We can also send bigger spacecrafts to the outer planets, which means more room for scientific experiments and fuel.
Most importantly, SpaceX’s reusable rockets are inspiring and encouraging others to do the same. Blue Origin has already demonstrated a reusable suborbital rocket, and the United Launch Alliance envision their next rocket, called Vulcan, to incorporate partial reusability.
In the words of Elon Musk: “Every mode of transport that we use, whether it’s planes, trains,automobiles, bikes, horses, is reusable, but not rockets. … So we must solve this problem in order to become a space-faring civilization.”
Graphic by Manoj Thayalan
