April 19, 2015 at 17:36

Next time Falcon 9 will land on solid ground



    The company Ilona Mask SpaceX plans to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 not on an offshore platform, but on solid ground. This statement was made by the president of the company, Gwynn Shotwell, without going into details, though it is not yet known when and where the Falcon 9 level will be planted.

    According to company representatives, landing on solid ground is more reliable than landing on an offshore platform. In the latter case, a number of natural causes (weather conditions, for example) prevent the landing of the step on the platform (during the second launch of the Falcon 9, the step could not be planted due to wind and high waves - the step had to be planted in water).

    Perhaps landing on the ground will help the steps to stay upright, which will mean a successful attempt. According to Shotwell, even under optimal weather conditions, landing on the platform is not the best option, since there will still be minimal pitching (calmness can be expected for months), plus the step compared to the platform is too big and heavy.



    Why did the company nevertheless decide to use the sea and the platform, despite all the difficulties? The fact is that water serves as an additional safety factor - even if everything burns and explodes (in fact, as is happening now), no one suffers, because there are no settlements or casual passers-by on the sea.



    Shotwell also expressed her attitude to the Vulcan project, a launch vehicle whose development authors also plan to return and reuse: “They want to lower the cost of launching the rocket. Our plan is to preserve the rocket itself, we plan to send people and pick them up, but returning is impossible if you do not have a rocket. ”
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