A SpaceX Falcon 9 at launch. Courtesy SpaceX Twitter
Wanna rent a used rocket?
Hawthorne-based SpaceX is becoming the world’s first used rocket dealer after it signed a deal with a Luxembourg satellite operator to reuse a recovered rocket to lauch a communications satellite.
The deal with SES-10 will use a Falcon 9 rocket that’s been fired into space once already and recovered and refurbished, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“We believe this is the way to go forward,” SES Chief Technology Officer Martin Halliwell was quoted by the paper. ” Having these total-loss missions where nothing is recovered seems to be a terrible waste.”
According to SpaceX, reusing rockets may cut costs by 30 percent.
The first used rocket blastoff will be from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida this fall, possibly in October.
Halliwell wouldn’t disclose the price his company is paying for the used-rocket venture, saying only that the firm did receive a discount as the first used-rocket renter.
–Staff reports
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