How does reusable rockets are reused?
Before going into details, have a look at
the normal rockets.
A rocket consists of mainly 3 parts.
The first stage, second stage and payload.
It also consists of an interstage but to make
this video easier to understand, we'll ignore
that part for now.
Starting from falcon9, every rocket is reusable.
Let's take an example at the falcon 9 v1.1
rocket that launched from cape canaveral on
Jan 2015,
Minutes after liftoff, the first stage seperates.
It then comes back to land safely, while if
it was the case of other nasa rockets then
it would be thrown to ocean because of lack
of fuel.
Second stage ignites to boost payload into
orbit.
Spacex's second stage is unique.
After it's there in the orbit with the payload,
it can be restarted again to create a deorbit
burn to drive it back to land.
While if it was other traditional rockets
then it would be either left in Geostationary
transfer orbit (GTO) or in Low Earth Orbit(LEO)
to decay.
The falcon 9's second stage has enough fuel
to return to landing platform.
Three separate engine burns to put the spent
stage on course to re-enter the atmosphere
and slow down from 2,900 mph (4,600 km/h)
to 4.5 mph (7.2 km/h).
But that's when the tragic happens.
At the time of touchdown on an offshore floating
platform, the boosters ran out of hydraulic
fluid for the steering fins.
But spacex has improved.
It now delivers cargo to the international
space station and with their sheer dedication,
the next falcon heavy is going to launch this
Jan 2018.
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for spacex's hardwork.
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