SpaceX has a taker for the first flight of one of its recycled rockets.
The Luxembourg-based company SES — a longtime SpaceX launch customer — said Tuesday it will send its next communications satellite up on a previously flown Falcon rocket. It will be the first true reuse of a rocket previously used for an orbital mission. The launch will take place sometime this fall.
“Thanks for the longstanding faith in SpaceX,” SpaceX chief Elon Musk said via Twitter. “We very much look forward to doing this milestone flight with you.”
The chief technology officer at SES, Martin Halliwell, said SpaceX’s testing for the upcoming mission gives his company “full confidence.” SES was the first commercial satellite operator to launch with SpaceX, back in 2013, he noted, and the satellite operator is excited to team up with SpaceX for another first.
{{/usCountry}}The chief technology officer at SES, Martin Halliwell, said SpaceX’s testing for the upcoming mission gives his company “full confidence.” SES was the first commercial satellite operator to launch with SpaceX, back in 2013, he noted, and the satellite operator is excited to team up with SpaceX for another first.
{{/usCountry}}“We believe reusable rockets will open up a new era of spaceflight,” Halliwell said in a news release.
SpaceX says it can save considerable time and money by reusing the big, expensive parts normally left to sink at sea.
Now, every time its unmanned Falcon flies, SpaceX attempts to land the first-stage, 15-story booster upright on an ocean barge or back at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Since December, SpaceX has recovered six boosters following liftoff. The company’s single attempt to land a leftover booster launched from California, back in January, failed.
The first recovered booster now stands outside the company’s Southern California headquarters.
Another private space company, Blue Origin has been reflying a recovered rocket from Texas for months but these have been suborbital test flights.