SpaceX successfully returns booster to land
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029466
Ars Technica : On 27 December, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket carrying 11 ORBCOMM communication satellites from Florida in the company’s first launch since its failure in June. Perhaps more important for SpaceX—and for space travel in general—after reaching an altitude of 200 km and a downrange distance of several hundred kilometers, the first stage restarted its engines and successfully returned to a landing pad 8 km away from the launch site. That ability has been a lynchpin in SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s goal of drastically reducing the cost of space flight. According to Musk, the cost to build a Falcon 9 rocket is around $60 million, but the cost of the fuel is less than $200 000.
