SpaceX founder and Chief Technology Officer Elon Musk definitely dreams big, but he follows through with it.
Tech Times reported on March 31 that SpaceX successfully launched a satellite into orbit with its first recycled rocket and discussed why the feat is such a huge deal, especially when it comes to space exploration. However, it seems Musk is not done with recycling because now he wants full rocket reusability.
SpaceX Keeps Making History
We know that Musk and SpaceX began with the idea of making rockets reusable for commercial flights when it was established more than a decade ago, and the company was finally able to achieve this goal in 2015. If you would recall, it was in December 2015 that SpaceX successfully launched a satellite into orbit before coming back to Earth and landing upright on a strip of landing pad in Cape Canaveral.
Two years later — and after an unfortunate 2016 — SpaceX made history again by launching and landing Falcon 9 with a recycled booster. Musk said that SpaceX's next goal is to be able to fly the same rocket like commercial aircrafts.
"Now our aspiration will be zero hardware changes, re-flight in 24 hours, the only thing that changes is we reload propellant ... Just like an aircraft, really," Musk said.
What Elon Musk Wants
On March 31, Musk tweeted that he is considering having SpaceX find a way to bring back stage 2 of Falcon Heavy in order to make the SpaceX rocket entirely reusable.
Considering trying to bring upper stage back on Falcon Heavy demo flight for full reusability. Odds of success low, but maybe worth a shot.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2017
He followed it up with the schedule of the next Falcon Heavy test flight.
Falcon Heavy test flight currently scheduled for late summer — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2017
Even if Musk admitted that the chance of success is low, we can never really know for sure until the next test flight, so summer would probably bring both excitement and dread for SpaceX.
One twitter follower was interested about the Falcon Heavy's geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) payload capacity, and Musk answered that it could possibly carry up to 20 percent more than the projected 22,200 kilograms.
@jasonlamb Looks like it could do 20% more with some structural upgrades to handle higher loads. But that's in fully expendable mode.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2017
Of course, other followers were quick to give their support to Musk's idea, with some even asking or suggesting what the payload would be for the scheduled test flight in summer.
@redletterdave Good point, odds go from 0% to >0% :) — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2017
@elonmusk no chance in hell on telling us what will be the test payload, right?
— cardoso (@Cardoso) March 31, 2017
@elonmusk Any chance of launching a Tesla? First car in space, Silly and damn cool. — Derrick.Stamos (@Helodriver2004) March 31, 2017
@Helodriver2004 @elonmusk Launch a pre-production version of Model 3
— SpaceX Pad 39A (@SpaceXPad39A) March 31, 2017
As for Musk, he said that the test payload would be the silliest thing they can imagine. To prove this, he revealed that the very first Dragon flight was literally cheesy.
@Cardoso Silliest thing we can imagine! Secret payload of 1st Dragon flight was a giant wheel of cheese. Inspired by a friend & Monty Python. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2017
