SpaceX reusable launch system development program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:51, 22 June 2025

Latest revision as of 08:38, 11 August 2025

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By April 2021, SpaceX had abandoned the experimental program to attempt recovery of dry payload fairings under [[parachute descent]] in a net on a [[platform supply vessel|fast ship]]. SpaceX decided to operationalize "wet recovery" of fairings on future Falcon 9 flights, having found that they can clean, refurbish, and reuse such fairings more economically.<ref name="ars20210409">{{cite news |last=Berger |first=Eric |date=9 April 2021 |title=Rocket Report: SpaceX abandons catching fairings |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/04/rocket-report-spacex-abandons-catching-fairings-ula-bets-on-upper-stages/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420105824/https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/04/rocket-report-spacex-abandons-catching-fairings-ula-bets-on-upper-stages/ |archive-date=April 20, 2021 |access-date=28 April 2021 |work=[[Ars Technica]]}}</ref> SpaceX released ''Miss Tree'' and ''Miss Chief'' from their contracts and purchased two ships for fairing recovery operations as well as for towing and supporting [[Autonomous spaceport drone ship|droneships]] on the east coast. These two ships were named in honour of [[Demo-2]] astronauts [[Doug Hurley]] and [[Bob Behnken]] as ''Doug''<ref>{{Cite web |title=DOUG (Offshore Supply Ship) Registered in USA – Vessel details, Current position and Voyage information – IMO 9529889, MMSI 368485000, Call Sign WDF2598 |url=https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:454774/mmsi:368485000/imo:9529889/vessel:DOUG |access-date=2021-08-25 |website=www.marinetraffic.com |language=en}}</ref> and ''Bob''. The earlier names of the ships Bob and Doug were Ella G and Ingrid respectively. Currently, Doug is operating at Port Canaveral while Bob is at Tampa undergoing construction.

By 26 May 2021, SpaceX had launched 40 flights that reflew at least one previously-flown fairing half, and one fairing had flown on five different flights, having been recovered and cleaned four previous times. As of now, SN152 is the oldest active fairing half still in use, while SN185 is the most flown (32 flights) active fairing half. On the other hand SN168 is the oldest, most-flown (28 flights) passive fairing half.<ref name=sn20210526>{{cite news |title=SpaceX sets Falcon 9 fairing reuse mark with Starlink launch |url=https://spacenews.com/spacex-sets-falcon-9-fairing-reuse-mark-with-starlink-launch/ |work=[[SpaceNews]] |last=Foust|first=Jeff |date=26 May 2021 |access-date=28 May 2021}}</ref>

=== Second-stage reuse ===