On March 30th, private company SpaceX led by Elon Musk made aerospace history by successfully launching and landing a previously used rocket. The goal of the project was to significantly reduce the cost of sending items into space by allowing the company to reuse components multiple times without needing to construct an entirely new rocket.

 

Elon Musk, CEO of the company, tells his employees to “imagine that there was a pallet of cash that was plummeting through the atmosphere, and it was going to burn up and smash into tiny pieces, would you try to save it?” This rationale has resulted in a success that could mean big things for the company and the entire space travel industry in the near future.

 

There are several distinct technologies that needed to be developed before any rocket could be re-used in this way. A new attitude control system was needed for the landing process, in order to correct the orientation of the rocket during the descent. Additionally, a throttleable engine is important since a rocket with only an “on” and “off” setting would be insufficient. A restartable ignition is also needed for the first-stage booster to allow the rocket needs to ignite while in flight in order to slow the fall. Lastly, some advanced softwares are needed to make this goal a reality.

 

One of the biggest current challenges for companies and government organizations who need access to earth’s orbit and beyond is the immense cost related to using rockets. Currently, the cost per pound to send “luggage” into Earth’s orbit is around $10,000. This means that sending just a few bottles of water into space would cost as much as a new car. NASA hopes to bring this cost down to three digits within 25 years and eventually to two digits within 40 years. However, it seems as though a private company is beating NASA in this race.

 

A lower cost-per-pound to send objects into space could open up a lot of very interesting possibilities for humanity in the aerospace industry. For example, more satellites could be repaired and replaced for a lower cost, space stations could be maintained more often and cheaply, and future exploration endeavours could be done with less financial risk as SpaceX and other organizations continue to improve and reduce the costs of rocket launches.

 

The next goal for SpaceX, according to Elon Musk, is to increase the refurbishing speed of used rockets, and well as expanding the list of components which can be reused. These two factors will push the cost of sending items into space down even further. For this test, SpaceX prepared the used rocket for a full 12 months before re-launching. Mr. Musk, who is nothing if not optimistic, wants to eventually reduce this time frame to 24 hours.

 

However successful SpaceX is the future, and it is clear that the company has permanently put itself in the history books, something that has previously only been achieved in the field by government-funded programs. That in itself is an achievement, and it is sure to be the first in a long series of advancements in an industry that has been stagnant for far too long.