For SpaceX, it's time to put the much-touted reusable rocket technology to test.
The California-based space company is looking to relaunch one of its four landed Falcon 9 rockets in the fall — in September or October — as confirmed by a tweet from its chief executive Elon Musk on June 7.
SpaceX said that the first rocket to have landed on a drone ship in April will be the first to fly once again. It added that a number of customers have already shown interest in launching their payloads on one of the reusable rockets.
Among these customers is the Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES, which launched a satellite on board a Falcon 9 a couple of months ago. SES has an existing contract with SpaceX to launch six more of them.
SES chief technology officer Martin Halliwell expressed in a previous interview that the group aspires to be the first among commercial satellite operators to fly the same rocket twice.
The success of reusable booster technology for reduced costs fuels optimism in human spaceflight.
Last May 27, SpaceX’s latest booster survived an ocean journey without toppling over, landing on a drone ship at sea. It marked the third time that the company nailed an offshore landing within the span of seven weeks.
The rocket's two stages separated about 2.5 minutes post-liftoff, with the first stage landing beautifully on the deck of the robotic drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" located 420 miles off the Florida coast. The second stage continued its ascent, carrying the 6,600-pound Thaicom 8 satellite into space.
"Yay, baby made it home!" tweeted Musk on June 3 after concerns on the booster tipping over during its lengthy trip back to shore. The rocket had a noticeable tilt on the ship deck despite being welded to it.
The booster has since been brought to a hangar at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, which houses all four rockets brought back to Earth during orbital launches. They were dubbed the "Fantastic Four," all part of the vision to develop fully, rapidly reusable launch systems.
The first successful landing took place in December, with the first stage coming back down on land. The other three touchdowns on April 8, May 6, and May 27 happened on the drone ship.
SpaceX's next launch of a commercial satellite is slated for June 14 from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
