SpaceX doubles down on method for cheaper rocket launches
Elon Musk’s rocket company is about take another step toward making space flight cheaper.
Space Exploration Technologies on Wednesday will double down on the concept of recycling spacecraft that the company has flown and landed back on Earth. In a mission for NASA, SpaceX will reuse both a rocket and a capsule that it’s fired off before.
Making space missions work more like commercial airline flights dramatically reduces costs — less money gets wasted discarding rockets and spacecraft after single launches. SpaceX’s success in this pursuit has made it one of the world’s most richly valued private companies. It’s also won over customers including NASA, which President Donald Trump has directed to return to the moon and explore Mars with the help of private industry.
“At this point, the notion of reuse of hardware is almost unremarkable,” said Ernie Chung, an aerospace, defense and airline consultant at AlixPartners LLP. “What is remarkable is that SpaceX appears to be continuing to lead the march down the cost curve for space access.”
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