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SpaceX scrubs rocket recovery launch | SpaceX scrubs rocket recovery launch |
(35 minutes later) | |
US company SpaceX has postponed an experiment to bring part of its Falcon rocket down to a soft landing on a floating sea platform. | US company SpaceX has postponed an experiment to bring part of its Falcon rocket down to a soft landing on a floating sea platform. |
The firm has now rescheduled the Cape Canaveral demonstration for Friday. | |
Once the first stage of the rocket launches, and has finished its work, it will head back to Earth to try to touch down on a sea barge in the Atlantic. | |
If this kind of capability can be proven, it promises dramatically lower launch costs in the future. | If this kind of capability can be proven, it promises dramatically lower launch costs in the future. |
All segments of a rocket are usually discarded after use and are destroyed as they fall back down. | |
SpaceX, however, has been practising the controlled return of the first stage of its Falcon 9 vehicle. | SpaceX, however, has been practising the controlled return of the first stage of its Falcon 9 vehicle. |
The problem responsible for Tuesday's scrub decision related to a technical issue detected in the steering mechanism of the rocket's upper stage. | |
The next chance to send up the vehicle will be on Friday at 10:09 GMT (05:09 local Florida time). | |
SpaceX itself has been playing down expectations, rating the chances of success at no more than 50-50. | SpaceX itself has been playing down expectations, rating the chances of success at no more than 50-50. |
"I'm pretty sure this will be very exciting, but, as I said, it's an experiment," cautioned Hans Koenigsmann, vice president for mission assurance at SpaceX. | "I'm pretty sure this will be very exciting, but, as I said, it's an experiment," cautioned Hans Koenigsmann, vice president for mission assurance at SpaceX. |
"There's a certain likelihood that this will not work out all right, that something will go wrong. It's the first time we have tried this - nobody has ever tried it as far as we know." | "There's a certain likelihood that this will not work out all right, that something will go wrong. It's the first time we have tried this - nobody has ever tried it as far as we know." |
The primary purpose of the flight is to send the Dragon cargo ship on a path to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). | |
It will be the first American re-supply mission to the orbiting platform since October's spectacular explosion of a freighter system operated by competitor Orbital Sciences Corporation. | It will be the first American re-supply mission to the orbiting platform since October's spectacular explosion of a freighter system operated by competitor Orbital Sciences Corporation. |
But it is the outcome of the SpaceX experiment that is likely to make the headlines. | But it is the outcome of the SpaceX experiment that is likely to make the headlines. |
The firm believes it can return, refurbish and re-use key elements of its rockets. | The firm believes it can return, refurbish and re-use key elements of its rockets. |
To this end, it has been testing first-stage boosters that relight their engines to try to slow their fall through the atmosphere, attaching fins to help guide them downwards, and legs to make a stable touchdown. | To this end, it has been testing first-stage boosters that relight their engines to try to slow their fall through the atmosphere, attaching fins to help guide them downwards, and legs to make a stable touchdown. |
So far, there have only been mock landings, in which the stage is brought to a hovering position at the surface of the ocean, where, without a solid platform to set down, every booster has subsequently been lost in the water. | So far, there have only been mock landings, in which the stage is brought to a hovering position at the surface of the ocean, where, without a solid platform to set down, every booster has subsequently been lost in the water. |
Friday's effort will be different in that SpaceX has sent a floating barge to the targeted return site some 300km northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. |