Elon Musk’s SpaceX used a recycled Falcon 9 booster to deliver a national security satellite to orbit for the first time Thursday.
The 230-foot-tall rocket, topped with the GPS III SV05, ignited its nine Merlin engines at 12:10pm ET at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 40.
‘Go Falcon and go GPS,’ a host of the mission said during the livestream as the Falcon 9 took off with bright blue skies hanging above.
‘We are pretty excited to watch today’s landing because it marks the first mission supporting the US Space Force with a flight driven booster.’
And the milestone was met: the Falcon 9 made a successful landing on the ‘Just Read the Instructions’ droneship about eight minutes after it took off from Earth.
GPS III SV05 will assist with a powerful, highly encrypted military GPS signal’s positioning, timing and navigation to US military users worldwide.
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The 230-foot-tall rocket, topped with the GPS III SV05, ignited its nine Merlin engines at 12:10pm ET at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 40
This is the 19th successful Falcon 9 landing for 2021 and SpaceX’s 88th recovery of a booster.
The US Space Force device joins 31 other military satellites orbiting Earth more than 12,000 miles above the surface, which circle our planet twice a day.
The GPS satellites are designed to provide signals that are more accurate and powerful than previous generations.
In a briefing on June 14, USSF SMC deputy mission director Walter Lauderdal was quoted by CNBC as saying: ‘In preparation for this first-time event we’ve worked closely with SpaceX to understand the refurbishment processes and are confident that this rocket is ready for its next flight.
‘Go Falcon and go GPS,’ a host of the mission said during the livestream as the Falcon 9 took off with bright blue skies hanging above. ‘We are pretty excited to watch today’s landing because it marks the first mission supporting the US Space Force with a flight driven booster’
Pictured is the Falcon 9 rocket as it leaves Earth and enters orbit to deliver the satellite. GPS III SV05 will assist with a powerful, highly encrypted military GPS signal’s positioning, timing and navigation to US military users worldwide
‘We continue to work with [SpaceX] and, looking ahead to the SV06 mission next year … we’ll be working with them as to what boosters are available.
‘We are certainly open to using other boosters not just ones that have flown [for Space Force].
‘Taken as a whole, our disciplined approach is part of an uncompromising dedication to mission success executed one launch at a time.’
The Falcon 9 rocket ignited its Merlin engines at 12:09pm ET and shoot off toward space a second later.
About two minutes into the mission, the first and second stages separated, and the second stage activated its engines just seconds later.
About two minutes into the mission, the first and second stages separated,
And the second stage activated its engines just seconds later
And at three minutes and 27 seconds, the fairing was deployed.
The Falcon 9 made landfall on the droneship in the Atlantic Ocean at approximately eight minutes and 33 seconds after lift-off.
So far, the US Pentagon has awarded SpaceX with five of the six GPS III satellite launch contracts, valued at $469.8 million.
Although using a reusable rocket will be a first for Space Force, the unit is currently looking at whether or not large rockets developed commercially can be used to deliver cargo quickly to hotspots around the world, such as war zones.
The aim is for the rockets to have the capability of transporting up to 100 tons of cargo to a wide range of locations.
The Falcon 9 made a successful landing on the ‘Just Read the Instructions’ droneship about eight minutes after it took off from Earth
Space Force could also look at rockets that may be able to ‘air drop’ cargo after arriving at a destination without landing at all, according to CBS News.
‘This idea has been around since the dawn of spaceflight,’ Greg Spanjers, who is manager of the Rocket Cargo program at the Air Force Research Laboratory, told CBS.
‘It’s always been an interesting, intriguing idea [but] it’s never really made sense in the past.’
The Falcon 9 booster used Thursday is the same that launched the GPS III SV04 satellite last November (pictured)
SpaceX is currently the leader in large rockets with its massive Starship, but Space Force has not confirmed whether or not the Musk-owned firm is part of the research.
Spanjers pointed out that the idea is being studied now because technology is catching up, with companies such as Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance trying to follow in SpaceX’s footsteps.
‘We don’t see SpaceX as being the only viable provider of this capability,’ Spanjers said, adding that a ‘number of providers’ may compete for contracts for the study.
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