SpaceX just plucked another payload fairing from the sky, and you can see video of the stunning cosmic catch.
The net-equipped SpaceX boat GO Ms. Tree snagged half of a declining payload fairing Tuesday (Aug. 18), shortly following a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket launched 58 Starlink internet satellites and three Earth-observation spacecraft into orbit.
Payload fairings would be the shrouds that shield satellites during launch. SpaceX fairings come in two pieces, both of which come back to Earth beneath parachutes at a guided manner, as a result of little thrusters. Such tech assists reuse and recovery of their fairings, which cost about $6 million annually, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said.
GO Ms. Tree and its sister ship, GO Ms. Chief, are a part of this picture too. Seawater is extremely corrosive, so snatching fairing halves from the sky makes refurbishment easier, Musk has stated. The ships have snagged a small number of fairings up to now, including a double capture during the launch of a South Korean military satellite . (Ocean splashdowns don't preclude reuse, nevertheless; SpaceX has reflown fairings it fished out of the water.)
GO Ms. Chief pulled one fairing half out of the Atlantic Ocean today. However, GO Ms. Tree caught another one, a success captured by a camera-equipped drone. Musk posted that footage on Twitter Tuesday, scoring the 43-second movie with some playfully incongruous lounge music.
Now's launch featured reusability action on multiple fronts. It was the first time launch for this particular Falcon 9 first stage, for instance, a landmark that SpaceX had never before attained. And more liftoffs are likely coming to the booster, which aced its landing on a ship at sea Tuesday.
Starlink is SpaceX's burgeoning constellation of online satellites. The business has launched almost 600 Starlink craft up to now, and many more will go up in the near future: SpaceX has permission to launch 12,000 such satellites and has applied for acceptance to loft up to 30,000 in addition to that.
The three other satellites which went up today are SkySats. They belong into San Francisco-based company Planet, which manages the world's largest constellation of Earth-observing spacecraft.
The net-equipped SpaceX boat GO Ms. Tree snagged half of a declining payload fairing Tuesday (Aug. 18), shortly following a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket launched 58 Starlink internet satellites and three Earth-observation spacecraft into orbit.
Payload fairings would be the shrouds that shield satellites during launch. SpaceX fairings come in two pieces, both of which come back to Earth beneath parachutes at a guided manner, as a result of little thrusters. Such tech assists reuse and recovery of their fairings, which cost about $6 million annually, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said.
GO Ms. Tree and its sister ship, GO Ms. Chief, are a part of this picture too. Seawater is extremely corrosive, so snatching fairing halves from the sky makes refurbishment easier, Musk has stated. The ships have snagged a small number of fairings up to now, including a double capture during the launch of a South Korean military satellite . (Ocean splashdowns don't preclude reuse, nevertheless; SpaceX has reflown fairings it fished out of the water.)
GO Ms. Chief pulled one fairing half out of the Atlantic Ocean today. However, GO Ms. Tree caught another one, a success captured by a camera-equipped drone. Musk posted that footage on Twitter Tuesday, scoring the 43-second movie with some playfully incongruous lounge music.
Now's launch featured reusability action on multiple fronts. It was the first time launch for this particular Falcon 9 first stage, for instance, a landmark that SpaceX had never before attained. And more liftoffs are likely coming to the booster, which aced its landing on a ship at sea Tuesday.
Starlink is SpaceX's burgeoning constellation of online satellites. The business has launched almost 600 Starlink craft up to now, and many more will go up in the near future: SpaceX has permission to launch 12,000 such satellites and has applied for acceptance to loft up to 30,000 in addition to that.
The three other satellites which went up today are SkySats. They belong into San Francisco-based company Planet, which manages the world's largest constellation of Earth-observing spacecraft.