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The article doesn't mention what I find to be the most interesting part of this mission: From Ars Technica: There is heightened interest in this launch becaus

The article doesn't mention what I find to be the most interesting part of this mission: From Ars Technica: There is heightened interest in this launch because, for the first time, SpaceX will attempt to "catch" one of the two payload fairings that enclose the satellite at the top of the rocket. The value of these fairings is about $6 million, and recovering and reusing them would both save SpaceX money and remove another roadblock on their production line for Falcon 9 rockets. These fairings will separate from the rocket at about three minutes after launch and are "steerable" in the sense that SpaceX hopes to guide them back to a target located in the ocean. "Going to try to catch the giant fairing (nosecone) of Falcon 9 as it falls back from space at about eight times the speed of sound," SpaceX founder Elon Musk said on Instagram Thursday morning. "It has onboard thrusters and a guidance system to bring it through the atmosphere intact, then releases a parafoil and our ship with basically a giant catcher’s mitt welded on tries to catch it." https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/spacex-to-try-again-to-launch-a-rocket-and-catch-a-payload-fairing/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/spacex-to-try-again-... They didn't 100% succeeed in their first attempt at this, but got really close! https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966692641533390848 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966692641533390848

aphextron 9y ago
I love this so much. The way Musk described it makes perfect sense. It's as if you had big bag of cash with a million dollars just falling from the sky, you'd probably go out there and try to catch it. It's the same thing.
- larrydag 9y ago
  Privatization of the space industry is going to lead to all sorts of efficiencies. I believe its also going to lead to some new areas of innovation that would never have been considered. For instance, this flight is putting 2 satellites in very LEO for internet service testing. Currently satellite internet service is at a much higher orbit which results in greater latencies.
  - SEJeff 9y ago
    ULA is a merger of boeing and lockheed martin. All three are private companies. This didn't lead to any efficiency in price. Multiple launch providers are what is leading to better price.
    - astrodust 9y ago
      Exactly. Launch prices went down when countries other than the US started to offer payload services. They're going down even more sharply now because of increased competition, not necessarily privatization, though that has been a factor in increasing competition.
sq_ 9y ago
I really hope that they manage to get this working on one of the next few launches; they got so close this time! From what I've read, they're approaching a situation where they are fairing-limited rather than core-limited, as a result of the fairings taking forever to fabricate for each launch.

aphextron 9y ago

I love this so much. The way Musk described it makes perfect sense. It's as if you had big bag of cash with a million dollars just falling from the sky, you'd probably go out there and try to catch it. It's the same thing.

larrydag 9y ago
Privatization of the space industry is going to lead to all sorts of efficiencies. I believe its also going to lead to some new areas of innovation that would never have been considered. For instance, this flight is putting 2 satellites in very LEO for internet service testing. Currently satellite internet service is at a much higher orbit which results in greater latencies.
- SEJeff 9y ago
  ULA is a merger of boeing and lockheed martin. All three are private companies. This didn't lead to any efficiency in price. Multiple launch providers are what is leading to better price.
  - astrodust 9y ago
    Exactly. Launch prices went down when countries other than the US started to offer payload services. They're going down even more sharply now because of increased competition, not necessarily privatization, though that has been a factor in increasing competition.

sq_ 9y ago

I really hope that they manage to get this working on one of the next few launches; they got so close this time! From what I've read, they're approaching a situation where they are fairing-limited rather than core-limited, as a result of the fairings taking forever to fabricate for each launch.