After a disastrous explosion in September 2016, SpaceX hasn't launched a rocket since. But after its most recent launch on January 18, it seems SpaceX has started off 2017 on a good foot. On January 14, SpaceX conducted its Iridium-1 NEXT mission and launched a Falcon 9 rocket from the coast of California with 10 new satellites on board.
The Iridium-1 NEXT mission is a partnership between SpaceX and Iridium Communications Inc., "a global leader in mobile voice and data satellite communications." This launch is the first of many, as Iridium plans on replacing its global network with 70 next-generation satellites.
The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Vandenburg Air Force Base at 9:54 am with the satellite payloads, which were deployed successfully an hour after the launch. But the most exciting part of the launch happened about nine minutes after the rocket blasted off, when the detached first stage landed upright on a barge ship in the Pacific Ocean.
Traditionally, aerospace companies like NASA would let the first stage get destroyed in the atmosphere or let it fall into a nearby body of water. So if NASA wanted to go back to space, they would have to rebuild everything. But SpaceX believes that it will be able to reuse these first stages for future launches, saving money and time as a result. SpaceX believes this is necessary for humans to be able to get to Mars in a cost-effective way without having to rebuild whole rockets every single time we need to get to space.
Of course, people are very skeptical that this is possible and think that retooling the rocket may offer more headache than reward. SpaceX is planning on relaunching a pre-used rocket for the first time near the end of February. I'll make sure to cover that when we get more information about that launch.
This return to flight is an important step for SpaceX. The aerospace company has about 70 launches in line, worth $10 billion, and the Iridium-1 launch has increased SpaceX's confidence as well as anyone that wishes to partner with them. Along with these commercial launches, SpaceX has supply launches to the International Space Station and is developing a capsule able to carry astronauts to the ISS.
These launches were delayed mainly due to the September 2016 explosion, which SpaceX was able to find out the cause of. It was concluded that the accident occurred because of the failure of one of the three helium tanks located in the second stage of the rocket.
With all the problems and issues that caused the September 2016 explosion found and hopefully out of the way, SpaceX has said that it will return to its normal schedule and begin to launch more rockets this year.
Be sure to be on the lookout for future SpaceX launches, as well as any other rocket launches at Space Flight Now.
Check out the full webcast for Iridium-1:
