SpaceX to land Rocket on floating platform

SpaceX Is About To Land A Rocket On A Platform In The Ocean — A Feat That Could Forever Change Spaceflight



http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-reuseable-falcon-9-ocean-landing-2014-12

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The most monumental part of this Friday's SpaceX launch will not be what goes up, but what comes down.

In a game-changing move, SpaceX is going to try and land a used rocket atop a floating platform in the ocean.

Doing this will be like "trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a wind storm," SpaceX described in a statement released yesterday.

If successful, the company will set a new standard in space exploration — one that could eventually cut the cost of space travel by a factor of 100, according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

Quote :

The launch will be the fifth cargo mission to the International Space Station for SpaceX. At 1:22 pm EST, Dec. 19, the Falcon 9 boosters will fire, launching the rocket and its 3700-pound cargo out of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and into the skies.

After the Falcon 9 rocket has emptied most of its fuel, it will detach from the Dragon spacecraft, which will carry the payload of food, science experiments, and other supplies to the ISS.

The Falcon 9 rocket will fall back to Earth, and this is when things will get exciting for SpaceX — the rocket will, for the first time, try to land itself upright on a giant ocean platform. But it won't be easy.

https://news.yahoo.com/spacex-delays-space-station-delivery-until-jan-141054795.html

Quote :

SpaceX spokesman John Taylor said a test firing of the rocket engines earlier this week did not go precisely as planned at the Cape Canaveral launch pad. The company wants to conduct a second test on the Falcon rocket before committing to a launch, he said.

Combined with the Christmas and New Year's holidays, as well as the sun's angles on the space station, the earliest the California-based company can launch is Jan. 6. The liftoff should have occurred Friday, already a few days late.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/science/space/next-frontier-for-spacex-and-elon-musk-landing-a-rocket-on-earth.html?_r=0



At 6:20 a.m. Eastern time, tomorrow (Tuesday the 6th) a SpaceX rocket will lift supplies to the International Space Station, AND land the first stage rocket on a barge 200 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean.

Odds are less than 50%, but you don't succeed if you don't try things. If a fully-recoverable rocket is developed, the costs are estimated to be 1/100th of current rocket costs.

It'll be interesting to see if they pull it off.

Scrubbed due to a rocket motor problem, they're planning on a Friday launch.

Success!  Sort of...

The rocket landed, but it landed kinda hard, most likely making the rocket un-reusable.  They say the floating platform sustained damage, but should be repairable.

SUCCESS: Elon Musk Landed A Rocket On A Platform In The Ocean

The launch. (Video of the landing didn't work as planned.)

A rocket that can reach mars in 39 days: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7009118