launch system development program launch system development program privately funded program develop set new technologies launch system reused times manner similar aircraft company developing technologies number years facilitate rapid space launch vehicles project long term objectives include returning launch vehicle stage launch site minutes return second stage launch pad following realignment launch site atmospheric hours long term goal stages launch vehicle designed allow reuse hours return program publicly announced design returning rocket propulsion systems completed february active test program began late testing low altitude low speed aspects landing technology high velocity high altitude aspects atmospheric return technology began testing late continued late achieved successful landing recovery stage launch system technology development stages falcon family rockets particularly suited outer separate rocket earlier flight moving slowly stage separation flight speed separation close allowed return near launch site flight going speed faster faster speeds possible return near launch site landing attempted need hundreds kilometres likely autonomous ship process involves rocket burn slow rocket burn controlling direction arrive landing site landing burn intended technology extended upper stages future launch vehicle considered paramount plans developing mars controlled vertical rocket stage ocean surface achieved april ninth flight falcon subsequent flights january april attempted land returning stage floating platform guided accurately target succeed landing vertically ship destroyed historic vertical landing finally achieved december stage falcon flight successfully touched landing zone april flight achieved soft landing ship atlantic_ocean history broad outline launch system publicly described september said attempt develop powered descent recovery stages fully vertical takeoff vertical landing rocket company produced computer animated video depicting view stage returning tail powered descent second stage heat shield head rotating powered descent september began flight tests prototype stage rocket tests continued including testing second larger prototype vehicle news test rocket public earlier september released draft environmental impact assessment test site texas space media reported september obtained set atmospheric test data recovery falcon stage based test runs nasa marshall space flight center wind tunnel test facility work contracted space act agreement nasa noted technology projected use falcon rocket stage separation occur velocity approximately mph mph falcon provide fuel necessary turnaround maneuver controlled descent landing november ceo announced plans build second larger rocket system powered falcon new system evolution falcon reiterated commitment develop breakthrough vertical landing technology end demonstration test vehicle test flights including second flight meters december early march successfully tested fourth time flew altitude meters march announced instrument equip subsequent falcon stages controlled descent test vehicles plans water simulated landings beginning intent return vehicle launch site powered landing possibly early april draft environmental impact statement proposed south texas launch site includes specific accommodations return falcon stage launch site publicly referred falcon falcon april september successfully engines spent launch entered atmosphere speed burning data collected flight test controlled descent high altitude coupled technological low altitude landing announced believed ready test land recovery stage based positive results high altitude flight test advanced expected date test early intention cargo resupply flight pending regulatory flight took place april stated goal program achieve rapid stage develop launch vehicle following future design architecture february explicit newly defined super heavy launch vehicle use technology consistent strategic statement revolutionary breakthrough come rockets fully rapidly conquer mars expensive american colonies pioneered ships crossed ocean hadn publicly announced extensive test program related technology landed space capsule called tests run texas june clarified funding development testing launch system technology development program private funding contribution government publicly disclosed cost development program time stated july highly confident able land successfully floating launch pad launch site rocket required refurbishment late suspended abandoned plan recover reuse falcon second stage additional mass required heat shield landing gear low powered landing engines great performance penalty technologies new technologies needed developed tested facilitate successful launch recovery stages rocket launching system following completion high altitude controlled descent test completion low altitude flight second generation prototype test vehicle plus flights generation prototype flight test vehicle indicated able consistently space velocity restart main engines twice deploy landing legs touch near zero velocity technologies developed program refined include system stage required upper atmosphere order high velocity away launch pad descent trajectory launch pad high lower atmosphere order slow terminal descent perform soft landing new attitude control technology stage second stage bring descending rocket body atmosphere manner non destructive return sufficient aerodynamic control terminal phase landing possible includes sufficient roll control authority rocket spinning excessively occurred high altitude flight test september roll rate exceeded capabilities attitude control system fuel tanks tank shutting single engine involved low altitude maneuver technology needs handle transition vacuum space conditions passing main stage engines terminal velocity grid fins added test vehicle design beginning fifth ocean controlled descent test flight arranged configuration grid fins control descending rocket lift vehicle returned atmosphere enable precise landing location rocket engine technology required reduce engine thrust thrust single engine exceeds weight nearly core terminal guidance landing capability including vehicle control system control system software able land rocket thrust weight ratio vehicle greater closed loop thrust throttle control navigation suite precision landing large floating landing platform order test landings prior receiving permission government bring returning rocket stages land event built autonomous ship conducted initial flight test landing attempt january large surface area thermal protection system absorb heat load second stage velocity terminal velocity lightweight landing gear stage design shown frame total span carbon fiber aluminum landing legs approximately meters weigh kilograms deployment system uses high pressure working fluid flight announced landing leg contained crush core absorb impact landing particularly hard landings economics rocket reuse order falcon return launch site extra landing gear carried stage requiring percent reduction maximum orbit comparison falcon previously stage subsequent flight dependent condition landed stage technique seen little use outside space shuttle solid rocket september said aspects test program successful customer interested falcon stage happen early late december following recovery stage december launch projected recovered likely occur plan december recovered stage purpose projects step program straightforward multiple duration engines ground multiple engine demonstrated significant degradation seen industry analysts continue potential problems prevent economic reuse costs stage demonstrated economic case reuse highly dependent launching frequently simply unknown successful developing technology expected significantly reduce cost access space change increasingly competitive market space launch services wrote foreign policy published cost million launch low earth orbit falcon rockets industry falcon drop price order magnitude sparking space based enterprise turn drop cost access space economies scale military launches number contractual requirements additional launch services provided price million space industry analyst noted technology space transport jet engines air transportation years ago people imagined million passengers travel year cost reduced level passenger volume reliable said january successful developing technology launch prices million falcon possible following successful stage recovery december said potential cost reduction long term probably excess factor march launch service providers compete planning develop similar technology offer competing options markets launches russian rocket planning developing marketing launch vehicle services competitor projected sufficiently elastic market demand justify costly development rocket technology expenditure private capital develop options theoretical market opportunity specifications published non falcon rocket actually include percent performance published price list indicates additional performance reserved demonstration flight tests achieving specified customers order achieve economic benefit technology necessary reuse rapid complete long costly refurbishment period partially design plagued earlier attempts launch vehicles explicit huge potential open space flight dependent achieving complete rapid ceo stated success technology development effort reduce cost factor cost falcon percent total cost vehicle separate market competition brought lower launch prices potential future radically lower launch prices technology completed successfully aviation week said launch work model concept speed program progress pace development apollo like execution success far guaranteed march president gave realistic potential savings reused launch attempts reuse second stage abandoned cost weight issues said cost cost stage potentially allow launch priced low saving biggest customer said wants ride reused vehicle wants launch price saving offset risk pioneering process according piece falcon reused times heat shields items reused times replacement technical feasibility prior program success december return launch system accomplished success rapid reuse rocket attempted developing rocket extremely challenging small percentage rocket mass orbit typically rocket mass rocket roughly mass fuel required vehicle entry said beginning program believed return vertical landing recovery possible manufacturing result rocket efficiency exceeding typical margin rocket operating configuration approximately lift capacity rocket configuration test program currently testing technologies stage launch vehicle designs test vehicles new dragon space capsule low altitude test vehicle called publicly disclosed multi element test program stages includes aspects low altitude low velocity testing single engine technology texas test site low altitude low velocity testing larger second generation engine test vehicle called second generation vehicle includes landing legs tested texas test site high altitude mid velocity testing planned discontinued use leased facility america new_mexico high altitude high velocity approximately mph controlled controlled descent tests post mission spent falcon stages following falcon launches began low altitude flight tests return controlled descent test high altitude september second test april test flight july fourth test september test flights date intended water simulated landings low altitude flight tests flown april august vehicle self safety reasons fifth flight flight testing vehicles set experimental technology launch vehicles versions prototype test vehicles built foot tall designated foot tall falcon development vehicle known built low altitude low velocity testing texas began september concluded october test flights second prototype vehicle design built larger falcon stage higher altitude higher velocity flight testing low altitude low speed flights test vehicle conducted tested texas facility company test vehicle consisted falcon stage tank single engine permanently attached steel landing legs stood feet tall built acre concrete launch facility texas support flight test program known version prior time class test vehicles built addition test flights additional tests successfully flown end october including fourth test overall march doubled highest leap rise meters second flight seventh test august vehicle flew meters second flight executed meter lateral maneuver returning pad eighth final test flight october flying meters miles making eighth successful landing test vehicle retired falcon development vehicle beginning october discussed development second generation test vehicle lighter landing legs fold rocket different engine bay nearly longer vehicle march announced larger class flight vehicle constructed falcon stage tank qualification testing early rebuilt landing legs second flight test vehicle built longer falcon stage tank retractable landing legs test flight april low altitude test flights texas area projected maximum altitude meters vehicle self safety measure test flight august april flight test vehicle built planned flown high altitude test range available america new_mexico expected flown altitudes meters prototype test article landed version dragon space capsule launch vehicle intended low altitude flight testing undergo test program texas test vehicle powered engines arranged redundant pattern support fault tolerance propulsion system design utilize mixture fuel nitrogen smaller attitude control maneuvering generation dragon spacecraft engines capable lbf thrust use flight test vehicle lbf maintain vehicle stability test flight program thirty flights proposed including assist plus landing flights dropped helicopter altitude approximately meters test flights projected pad assist landing plus similar stage test flights test program expected start completion testing facility falcon post mission flight tests arrangement unusual launch vehicles stages falcon rockets return controlled descent flight tests complete boost phase flight discarded ocean setting way water tests place pacific atlantic oceans south east flight test occurred september second stage separated descent simulated landing tests continued years second flight test taking place april subsequent tests conducted entry controlled descent following analysis flight test data controlled descent september announced successfully tested large new technology flight coupled technology low altitude landing ready test recovery stage flight test successful said able successfully transition vacuum light engines way control stage way atmosphere said attempt recovery sic falcon stage fourth flight upgraded rocket commercial dragon cargo flight second flight test took place april dragon flight attached landing legs stage ocean attempted simulated landing water following second stage cargo resupply mission contracted nasa stage successfully slowed soft landing atlantic_ocean announced february intent continue tests land stage ocean precision control way regimes proven additional controlled descent tests conducted remainder april including attempts land floating landing platform built atlantic_ocean east launch site brought vehicle landing platform resulted successful landing landing success aground launch hiatus requested regulatory approval attempt returning flight instead targeting floating platform ocean goal land vertically leased landing zone facility recently built large rocket landing pad approved safety plan ground landing december stage landed successfully target local time december utc december plan fly falcon flight stage rocket moved miles north launch pad recently refurbished adjacent kennedy space center conduct static fire test january test aimed assess health recovered capability rocket design fly repeatedly future tests delivered good overall results outer engines experiencing thrust fluctuations reported debris near misses oceans falcon flight launched satellite january attempted land floating platform read instructions located time miles pacific_ocean approximately minutes flight live video feed ship went losing lock satellite vehicle landed smoothly vessel landing legs failed lock properly reportedly ice heavy pre launch fog preventing consequently fell shortly touchdown destroyed impact pad flight carrying heavy kilograms transfer orbit heavier previously advertised maximum lift capacity possible going slightly following delays caused failure flight agreed provide extra thrust satellite result factors little left execute landing test normal margins consequently falcon stage followed trajectory separation entered atmosphere high velocity making likely land successfully atmospheric entry controlled descent successful despite higher constraints stage extra speed rocket moving fast destroyed collided ship collected valuable data extended flight envelope required recover missions landings ship april falcon flight flight thrust version delivered cargo way stage conducted entry maneuver atlantic ocean minutes landed vertically ship course love florida coastline achieving long sought milestone development program second successful ship landing occurred flight launched second landing sea difficult previous separation traveling mph compared mph launch low earth orbit pursuing experiments test limits flight envelope opted shorter landing burn engines instead single engine burns seen earlier attempts approach fuel leaving stage free fall long possible sharply energy expended counter gravity indicated stage flown instead life leader ground tests confirm good successful landing followed 27th following high speed required launch landing crushed crush core leg leading notable tilt stage stood ship future tests aims return number stages land ships clarify procedures needed use rapidly company hopes begin offering pre flown falcon rocket stages commercially end year aiming stage near future january estimated likelihood success percent landing attempts hopefully rising percent cautioned expect rapid denote destruction vehicle impact
SpaceX reusable launch system development program