Avion Issue 9 Spring 2017 by The Avion

SpaceX Makes History with SES-10 Launch Keenan Thungtrakul Senior Reporter

Trey Henderson/The Avion Newspaper

History was made on the evening of Thursday, March 30 with the successful launch of SES-10, a communications satellite designed to broaden network capabilities in Latin America. SES-10 was built by Airbus Defense and Space and will cater to growing Latin American television broadcasting markets and demand for Ultra HD channels. In addition, the satellite will provide connectivity for a growing number of cruise ships sailing the Caribbean and airliners flying around Latin American airspace. SES-10 is the first payload to be launched off the first reused Falcon 9 first stage. This particular booster was first used in April of 2016 to take the CRS-8 resupply capsule to the ISS. Once the booster landed, it was cleaned and refurbished and brought right back into testing. SpaceX wanted to make sure that the reusable booster will live up to its intended purpose, and that it did. The booster carried SES-10 into orbit and again landed successfully on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship stationed in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. During a press conference held in the hours following the launch, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and SES Chief Technology Officer Martin Halliwell sat down with reporters to discuss the impact that this mission had on the growing space industry. SES said that it had “no hesitation” when it was offered a launch on a refurbished rocket. Martin said that the industry is “shaking its boots” thanks to this achievement. Musk stated that he felt “speechless” after witnessing the launch proceeding flawlessly. What the engineering team at SpaceX has essentially done is take what was originally a disposable, single use vehicle and turn it into a partially reusable one. The goal, Musk said, is to make rockets perform like airliners do. Airplanes aren’t thrown out after every flight so why should rockets. SpaceX aims to make their Falcon 9 boosters capable of quick turnarounds and “high flight rates” with minimal to moderate refurbishment. Propellants only make up about 0.3% of the cost of

launching, with much of the cost going to the actual first stage and the payload fairing. The hope is to ideally reuse the boosters within 24 hours, which, compared with almost ten months for this booster, is an ambitious goal. Elon Musk proposed that the Falcon 9 first stage booster could perform about ten flights if not refurbished between launches and about 100 flights if moderately refurbished between launches. The booster that launched SES-10 will be re-flown up to six times before being donated as a token to commemorate this historic moment. Since satellite companies are used to having their payloads sent up on single-use rockets, they will be hesitant to sign on to launch using a “flight-proven” SpaceX booster. More flights of these boosters to earn customer’s trust are required to prove the booster remains reliable, even if it has undergone multiple launches. One major perk that comes with using a flight-proven booster is a substantial discount. Musk wants to reduce the cost of access to space, and re-usability is one of the key components to realize that dream. Musk also believes that re-usability is the key for his plans for a Mars colony by the end of either his lifetime. He postulated that the ITS first stage would be capable of about 1000 flights each. That would be getting close to conventional aircraft re-usability, but there is a lot of work up ahead. Of course, there is a lot of work to be done to continue the strive for this standard. In addition, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket will utilize three Falcon 9 first stage boosters, and all of them will be landed after a launch. Musk plans to begin testing the rocket in late summer using the historic pad 39A, the pad that both the Apollo 11 mission and the space shuttle launched from. Other Falcon rockets will use LC-40, the pad that suffered damage during the static fire test anomaly. SpaceX is going to continue pushing the limits of aerospace and making history several times over as they look forward to flying crew, and the Falcon Heavy later this year.