When we talk about reusing stuff, Elon Musk’s SpaceX automatically springs to mind. After all, where other companies are struggling to reuse mundane stuff like packaging materials and plastic, the company setting benchmarks by reusing rockets. The company is now hoping to re-deploy a Falcon 9 rocket it first used in January.
If the company does manage to pull the flight off, it would mean that SpaceX managed to refurbish and re-launch a rocket in as little as 6 months — which is seriously impressive. It would also mean a significant improvement in the company turnaround time considering that the last rocket it launched for the second time took it almost 1 year to repair.
Of course, that is still a long way from SpaceXs ultimate goal of relaunching Falcon 9’s within 24 hours of their first launch. Once — and if — it happens, the company would be able to pack a huge, literally huge number of launches within a short duration and also drastically improve economics.
Hours after CRS-11 lifted off, this flight-proven booster rolled into the hangar at 39A; targeting June 17 launch of BulgariaSat-1. pic.twitter.com/ZcqRQeJPx6
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 7, 2017
Meanwhile, SpaceX is hoping to reuse this particular Falcon 9 on a June 17 launch. The mission is BulgariaSat-1, which was first scheduled for 2016 end. However, the mission was pushed to June this year, after the disastrous September explosion that saw a Falcon-9 rocket destroyed while still on the launchpad, along with an internet.org satellite.
