SpaceX lands rocket on ship at sea for second time
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029801
Mashable : Earlier today SpaceX landed its first-stage Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean for the second time. The private aerospace company has attempted the feat six times so far, the last two of which have been successful. It has also landed the rocket on land once. A sea landing is preferred because it requires less fuel. Besides further demonstrating that the rocket can be recovered and reused, the mission successfully carried a Japanese communications satellite into orbit. After the landing, company CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the landing used three engines and had triple the deceleration of the previous flight. The ability to slow down quickly before landing would be useful for a future Mars expedition because of that planet’s thin atmosphere.