SpaceX reused the same rocket seven times, transporting another 60 Starlink satellites into space

SpaceX reached another milestone on repeated use of rockets this morning, using the same lower-tier rocket repeatedly to take off and land seven times. This rocket, numbered B1049, carried the Telestar 18V satellite to the sky on 9 October 2018. After completing the Iridium NEXT mission, the next five launches carried the Starlink satellite, continuing to enrich orbit. Number of Starlink satellites. SpaceX long ago used ten reps as the initial target of the Falcon 9 rocket. Now it appears that the factor limiting the number of reps is more the lack of launches than the number of uses of the rocket itself. There are currently 10 lower tier rockets known to SpaceX (including two currently useless Falcon Heavy rockets). In addition to the 7 B1049 launches, the B1051 also followed closely with 6 launches.

This month is also the month that SpaceX has the most launches into orbit in a single month, with four launches for the first time. However, Florida has made three launches in recent months, and this month is actually the same, with the exception of an additional mission from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on the west coast of California. Overall, the burden on the existing launch system has not increased.

Finally, it was spaceship SN8, which had no news for a while. After SN8 got the bow cone, it ran another pilot fire, because there is also a small liquid oxygen reservoir in the nose cone and you need to check if the piping is connected properly. a tragedy, second Musk description, The impact force when the rocket was fired shattered the protective layer on the concrete below. The protective layer material rushed into the engine room during the splashing process and cut the rocket control line. This made it impossible for the control room to issue an instruction to open the valve to relieve the pressure. Fortunately, the built-in passive safety valve opened normally without an explosion.

But even so, SpaceX still had to replace an engine and install an additional stainless steel cover to protect the piping, so testing was delayed for nearly a week. The current schedule appears to be tentatively scheduled for November 30, but this type of test is based on the progress of preparations, if SpaceX believes it is not ready yet it can be delayed by a few days.