Falcon rocket speed 9. How much SpaceX brought down the prices of rocket launches

Falcon 9 Block 5 on the launch pad before testing

A few days ago, the head of SpaceX, Elon Musk, spoke about plans for the future. The story was quite detailed, with financial details. According to Musk, over the next three years, the cost of launching a Falcon 9 will drop to $5-6 million. This forecast will be realistic if more elements of the launch vehicle become reusable.

Now the most expensive element of the rocket is the first stage, which SpaceX representatives have already learned how to return. It accounts for about 60% of the price of a rocket, respectively, its price has the greatest impact on the launch cost. In addition, another 20% is the second stage and 10% is the head fairing and other elements, without which launch is impossible. The remaining 10% is fuel and the cost of everything that is somehow connected with the launch.

The modification of the Block 5 rocket is planned to be operated further - in total, SpaceX is going to carry out about 300 launches, including those that will be implemented using already used stages. Now, according to company representatives, the first stage can be run about ten times without repair. If it is regularly repaired, it is possible to increase the number of launches up to a hundred times. Until 2019, the company is going to conduct an interesting experiment - to launch Block 5 twice in one day with the same first stage.

The previous version of the stage, Block 4, could also be used up to ten times in a row, but this required cosmetic repairs between flights. Now no work is required - the stage can be used immediately, as soon as it returned to Earth. The only thing a rocket needs to fly is fuel. The stage's tanks fill up and it flies again.

Block 5 Falcon 9, according to Musk, is the most advanced modification of the Falcon launch vehicle. For the first time, the updated rocket flew into space a few days ago. It placed the first satellite of Bangladesh into geostationary Earth orbit, it was named Bangabandhu-1.

There is some confusion with the numbering of the modifications of the first stage. Even though it's called Block 5, it's already the sixth version. All improvements and improvements are made on the basis of information received earlier. By the way, the very word "Block" was taken by Musk from the vocabulary of Russian cosmonauts and rocket scientists.

Now the first stage engines have been improved, their power has increased by 8%. As for the second stage, here the engines have been improved, their power is 5% higher. A further increase in engine power is possible - they plan to increase thrust by 10%.

According to representatives of SpaceX, the safety of the steps has also been increased, now their manufacture and operation fully comply with all NASA requirements. Producing them has become a little easier, which has reduced the amount of time required for production. Other changes include foldable legs that will no longer need to be removed once the stage has landed on Earth.

The current version of Falcon is the final one. It turned out to be so successful that SpaceX will no longer modify it, leaving it static in time. Instead, the company will have more time to implement its Big Falcon Rocket and Starlink satellite network projects. If necessary, some changes can be made to the design of the Falcon 9, but they are unlikely to be significant. “There will be no Block 6. We decided to stick with the Block 5 version and do not plan to make significant changes to its design in the future,” Musk said.

By the way, the Chinese recently announced plans to create a returnable first stage similar to the Falcon 9. After all, China is a space power, and no one is against saving a couple of tens of millions of US dollars on launches. Recently, Chinese design engineer Long Lehao ​​from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) said that the development of the Long March 8 launch vehicle with a reusable first step. The first test launch could take place as early as 2020.

By 2035, the Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) aims to achieve reuse all launch vehicles in the country.

Another launch of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle failed. The Falcon 9 rocket was prepared by SpaceX, a private US company founded by Elon Musk.

Falcon and NASA

Back in 2008, NASA signed a contract with the company to launch the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and spaceship dragon. The very idea of ​​​​producing this type of launch vehicle is dictated by the fact that a series of unsuccessful launches of the Space Shuttle followed. And Elon Musk himself plans to reduce the cost of space flights by 10 times. However, this project at that time was estimated at $1.6 billion.

The failed one frustrated a number of tasks that NASA set for itself, except for the launch of the Space Shuttle to the ISS. The Falcon 9 rocket carried 1.8 tons of cargo.

The main task that was planned to be performed by this launch was to replenish food supplies for members of the ISS. In addition, the rocket also carried the International Docking Adapter (IDA), developed by Boeing. This 526 kg docking port was supposed to facilitate the docking of the Dragon spacecraft to the ISS. For the same purpose, Dragon also tried to deliver a spacesuit for spacewalks. Undoubtedly, the loss of such important components will adversely affect the graphics scientific works aboard the ISS.

But that's not all! The Falcon 9 rocket explosion destroyed 8 Flock 1f satellites commissioned by Planet Labs. Moreover, each of them carried three CubeSats, which were supposed to monitor the Earth in optical mode.

Falcon 9 Specifications

The design of the rocket is designed in such a way that avionics devices and on-board computers are installed at each stage, which are designed to control all flight parameters.

All avionics used on board the rocket are manufactured by SpaceX. Also, in addition to its own navigation system, GPS equipment is used to improve the accuracy of launching into orbit.

In addition, each engine has its own controller, which constantly monitors all parameters of the engine. And each controller is equipped with three processor units to improve system reliability.

The Falcon 9 rocket is two-stage, and this version went through two modifications:

• version 9 v1.0;
• version 9 v1.1.

The difference between the second version and the first is that a more advanced engine is installed on it. And they are also distinguished by the location of the engines in the lower stage.

And although in both versions the engines run on kerosene with an oxidizer from liquid oxygen, the Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket already launches 4.85 tons of payload into space, while the US Falcon 9 v1.0 rocket - only 3, 4 t.

At the same time, the length of version 1.1 is 68.4 meters with a launch weight of 506 tons.

To understand these parameters, the Russian Proton-M rocket is shorter by 10 meters, the launch weight is greater - 705 tons. But Proton-M puts 6.74 tons of payload into orbit.

According to NASA, the Falcon 9 launch cost is $60 million, while Proton-M costs $30 million more.

So what about the first step?

A Falcon 9 rocket is launched by NASA from two launch pads. They are located one in Florida, the second in California. Work is also underway to deploy two more launch pads.

Since 2013, SpaceX has been constantly working on creating technology for the reusable use of Falcon 9 v1.1 components. The first attempt to save the Falcon 9 took place in January 2015. According to calculations, the stage was supposed to land in the area of ​​​​the floating platform. But bad weather at sea did not allow picking up the stage of the rocket.

To date, these efforts have not been successful. None of the launches made led the company to save the stage.

Expert opinion

Although the media reports that the last successful launch of the Falcon 9 (in December 2015) made it possible to save the lower stage of the rocket, experts doubt the further use of the first stage. Experts believe that, given the temperature of the heating of the rocket body both at launch and during descent, after it passes through the atmosphere, there is extremely little chance of reuse this element of the rocket.

But that's not all. For reusable use, additional elements are needed - these are landing racks and the necessary fuel supply. And this, in turn, reduces the payload by up to 30%.

Reliable rocket?

From 2010 to 2013, five launches were made, of which four were fully normal.

But the launch of the Falcon 9 in October 2012 was considered "partially successful" by experts. Then the rocket "Falcon 9" for the first time sent equipment to the ISS on a Dragon truck. But during the launch of the Orbcomm-G2 satellite, a failure occurred, as a result, the satellite was launched into a lower orbit than planned.

The result of this "partially successful operation" is deplorable. Orbcomm-G2 did not stay in orbit for long and on October 12 of the same year burned up without a trace in the Earth's atmosphere.

In this regard, it is interesting how SpaceX explained the failure. According to experts, a part of the casing from the fairing near the first-stage engine was torn off.

Causes of the disaster

The explosion of the Falcon 9 rocket in June 2015 did not add credibility. It did not stay in flight for long - 2 minutes 19 seconds. As soon as the rocket entered hypersonic mode, an explosion occurred, and after 8 seconds the Falcon 9 fell apart. NASA, together with SpaceX, launched an investigation into the causes of the disaster.

The head of SpaceX put forward his version. According to his theory, the accident occurred as a result of overpressure in the oxidizer tanks on the upper stage. This happened at a time when the first stage had not yet separated.

Other accidents

Of course, accidents in the space industry are not uncommon. Yes, only in the US current year there were three accidents (taking into account the catastrophe that the Falcon 9 launch vehicle suffered).

In October 2014, after launching from the spaceport on Wallops Island, the private Antares launch vehicle exploded. It was expected to launch a Cygnus truck (both manufactured by Orbital Sciences) into orbit towards the ISS.

Also in 2014, another SpaceShipTwo crashed. It was assumed that suborbital tourist flights would be carried out on it. And the developer company Virgin Galactic is still trying to eliminate the causes of the crash.

The first Proton-M took place on April 7, 2001. Then the rocket with upper stage "Breeze-M" successfully launched the satellite "Ekran-M" into orbit. An improved version of the control system was installed on this rocket, which made it possible to improve testing based on heptyl, which, as you know, is a toxic substance both for humans and for environment. Also, the new system made it possible to increase the mass of the payload launched into orbit.

Since then, 90 Proton-M launches have taken place, but only 80 of them were fully regular. The main reason emergency situations caused by a malfunction in the accelerating unit.

Undoubtedly, such statistics are not a successful indicator for missiles with such a rich history. In any case, the explosion of the Falcon 9 rocket will help to better understand its malfunctions and take them into account at the next launch.

What's next?

At the moment, to deliver cargo to the ISS is able to:

• Russian "Progress";
• Japanese HTV;
• dragon;
• Cygnus.

NASA pins great hopes on Dragon as a vehicle that is able to return cargo from the ISS to Earth. The contract with this company was extended until 2017, and another 15 launches are planned.

AT last time The Falcon 9 launch vehicle with the Dragon transport successfully completed its mission on December 22, 2015.

NASA has no doubt that the accident with the Falcon 9 will in no way interfere with the creation of manned spacecraft. Under this program SpaceX intends to launch the Falcon Heavy rocket. This launch is able to compete with both the Russian Proton and the European Ariane 5.

The accident that the American Falcon 9 rocket suffered showed once again that no one is immune from disaster in space exploration.

There is a lot of unnecessary hype around the Falcon-9 rocket. Fans of stardust have time to swallow every movement of Elon Musk. Yesterday's unsuccessful launch gave rise to a new wave about the ground-to-space rocket. So we will measure ourselves with failures?

Falcon 9: business gone

Falcon 9 launch vehicle

The first stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle launched from the Californian Vandenberg American company SpaceX, which was supposed to launch the NASA satellite Jason 3, developed in the USA and France, to monitor the surface of the oceans of the world, could not successfully land on floating platform in the ocean.

Judging by the first reports, during landing, the rocket stage damaged one of its legs. It is possible that one of the landing legs was not blocked during landing, which caused the rocket stage to overturn. We will not be like that part of the Runet that welcomes any insanity with a Western flavor and rejoices in every miscalculation of the Fatherland. It is better to understand what happened without anger and attachment.

On December 22, 2015, the American private space company Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) conducted the first successful horizontal landing of the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral. her first step.

SpaceX founder and owner of electric car maker Tesla, tech adventurer Elon Musk received worldwide publicity overnight. All previous attempts to land the first stage on a platform located in the ocean literally failed miserably, although it was possible to successfully bring them to the ocean surface.

The "creative" community has begun to seethe more than the ocean waters and piled on the Web a whole bunch of joyfully odorous maxims. Aliluy people started talking about supposedly "cheap" flights into space. Although sane people understand that one swallow does not make spring yet and "one snowflake is not snow yet."

Even funnier were the attempts of network volunteers to present Musk's achievements as a real opportunity to create an earth-to-space rocket that could land on the planet. Why not remind them when the first soft landing on the surface of the moon occurred? The Soviet automatic station "Luna-9" did this, after numerous failures, on February 3, 1966. "Luna-16" generally walked back and forth.

But couch experts wrote about all this, who rejoiced when our "Proton" collapsed and was overcome by "sadness" when their "Space" did not sit down like that. Here, a self-serving and far from always honest policy was mixed with technical illiteracy. What is not good. After all, as you know, honesty is the best policy (honesty is the best policy).

PR Elon Musk

And here are the arguments of people who understand the issues of astronautics. First of all, the entire "promotion" - no matter the success or failure of his Space - is associated with a purely commercial approach to business. HAndrey Ionin, Correspondent of the Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Cosmonautics in an interview with a Pravda.Ru correspondent, he noted that what Musk is doing "in many respects does not make much economic sense." “Because, on the one hand, rather expensive rocket engines are saved, but at the same time, it is important that Musk himself admits that, all other things being equal, the mass of the output cargo is reduced, practically by the amount saved,” says Ionin. “Musk has a super idea, his personal the ultimate goal is to go to Mars.

For this reason, Musk, according to Andrey Ionin, uses landing technologies and methods that differ from those used on the American Shuttles and our Burans. There is a very rarefied atmosphere on Mars, and it seems to our expert "that Musk is largely developing these technologies for future flights to Mars, where landing with jet rocket engines is really the only way to land for heavy objects weighing tens of tons."

During a conversation with hlinenohm-correspondentohmRussian Academy of Cosmonautics named after Tsiolkovsky AndreeatIoninth Pravda.Ru could not ignore some technical details. Will the Falcon 9 booster be able to take off again, despite all Musk's assurances?

Mentioning that "in many ways, this is where the Space Shuttle project broke down," a corresponding member of the Academy of Cosmonautics noted: "The cost of testing all these reusable elements is sometimes commensurate with the cost of manufacturing new ones. The cost of one launch space shuttle instead of shrinking actually increased. One launch of the Space Shuttle costs about one billion dollars."

As for the secondary use of the Falcon itself, according to Ionin, "this is still open question. When Musk really starts to reuse his steps, then it will be clear whether there will be savings here, or maybe we, on the contrary, will get an additional increase in cost. But I say that Musk, in my opinion, solves completely different problems. The whole world is interested in this topic. In fact, with the help of these repeated landings, sometimes successful, sometimes unsuccessful, Musk gets a huge PR effect. Almost for little money."

Falcon 9 (from English - "falcon") - a family of disposable and partially reusable heavy class series of the American company SpaceX. Falcon 9 consists of two stages and uses RP-1 kerosene (fuel) and liquid oxygen (oxidizer) as fuel components. The "9" in the name refers to the number of Merlin liquid rocket engines installed in the first stage of the launch vehicle.

The launch vehicle has gone through two significant modifications since its first launch. The first version, Falcon 9 v1.0, ran five times between 2010 and 2013, and was succeeded by Falcon 9 v1.1 with 15 launches; its use was completed in January 2016. latest version, Falcon 9 Full Thrust (FT), first launched in December 2015, uses supercooled propellant components and maximum engine thrust to increase launch vehicle performance by 30%.

Falcon 9 was originally designed with reusability in mind. During the first launches, the possibility of returning both stages using parachutes was studied, but this strategy did not justify itself and was changed in favor of using the stage's own engines for landing. Equipment for its return and vertical landing on the landing site or floating platform is installed on the first stage of the launch vehicle . The second stage is disposable, it is not planned to reuse it, since this will significantly reduce the performance of the output payload.

On December 22, 2015, after launching on Orbcomm-G2 11, the first stage of a Falcon 9 FT launch vehicle successfully landed on Landing Zone 1 for the first time.

On April 8, 2016, as part of the SpaceX CRS-8 mission, the first stage of the Falcon 9 FT rocket successfully landed on the Of Course I Still Love You offshore platform for the first time in rocket science history.

March 30, 2017, the same stage, after Maintenance, was re-launched as part of the SES-10 mission and again successfully landed on an offshore platform.

The Falcon 9 is used to launch geostationary commercial, research, commercial resupply services programs, and will also be used to launch its Dragon V2 manned version.

The price of launching a commercial satellite declared on the manufacturer's website (up to 5.5 tons per GPO) Falcon launch vehicle 9 - $62 million. Due to additional requirements for military and government customers, the cost of launching a launch vehicle is higher than commercial, launch contracts for the US Air Force in the amount of $82.7 million and $95.6 million were signed in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

General design

First stage

Uses RP-1 kerosene as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer. Built according to the standard scheme, when the oxidizer tank is located above the fuel tank. The partition between the tanks is common. Both tanks are made of an aluminum-lithium alloy, the addition of lithium to the alloy increases the strength of the structure and reduces its weight. The walls of the oxidizer tank themselves are the supporting structure, while the walls of the fuel tank are reinforced with frames and longitudinal beams, due to the fact that the lower part of the first stage bears the greatest load. The oxidizer reaches the engines through a pipeline that runs through the center of the fuel tank along its entire length. Compressed helium is used to pressurize the tanks.

The Falcon 9's first stage uses nine Merlin liquid propellant rocket engines. Depending on the version of the launch vehicle, the version of the engines and their layout differ. To start engines, a self-igniting mixture of triethylaluminum and triethylborane (TEA-TEB) is used.

The first and second stages are connected by a transition compartment, the shell of which is made of an aluminum-carbon-fiber composite. It covers the second stage engine and contains the stage separation mechanisms. Separation mechanisms are pneumatic, unlike most rockets that use squibs for such purposes. This type of mechanism allows its remote testing and control, increasing the reliability of stage separation.

It is, in fact, a reduced copy of the first stage, using the same materials, production tools and technological processes. This allows you to significantly reduce the cost of production and maintenance of the launch vehicle and, as a result, reduce the cost of its launch. The walls of the tanks for fuel and oxidizer made of heavy-duty aluminum-lithium alloy are the load-bearing structure of the stage. It also uses kerosene and liquid oxygen as fuel components.

The second stage uses a single Merlin Vacuum liquid propellant rocket engine. Features a significantly enlarged nozzle to optimize engine performance in a vacuum. The engine can be restarted multiple times to deliver payloads to different operating orbits. The second stage also uses the TEA-TEB mixture to start the engine. To increase reliability, the ignition system is double redundant.

To control the spatial position in the phase of free orbital flight, as well as to control the rotation of the stage during the operation of the main engine, an orientation system is used.

Onboard systems

Each stage is equipped with avionics and on-board flight computers that control all flight parameters of the launch vehicle. All used avionics own production SpaceX and made with triple redundancy. GPS is used in addition to the inertial navigation system to improve the accuracy of placing the payload into orbit. The flight computers are controlled by operating system linux c software written in C++.

Each Merlin engine has its own controller that monitors the engine's performance throughout its life. The controller consists of three processor units that constantly check each other's performance in order to increase the system's fault tolerance.

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle is able to successfully complete the flight even with an emergency shutdown of 2 of the 9 first stage engines. In such a situation, the flight computers recalculate the flight program, and the remaining engines run longer to achieve the required speed and altitude. The flight program of the second stage is changing in a similar way. So, at the 79th second of the SpaceX CRS-1 flight, the first engine was abnormally stopped after the failure of the conical fairing and the subsequent drop in operating pressure. The Dragon spacecraft was successfully launched into its intended orbit due to the increased operating time of the remaining 8 engines, although the Orbcomm-G2 satellite, which served as a secondary load, was launched into a lower orbit and burned out after 4 days.

As with the Falcon 1 launch vehicle, the Falcon 9 launch sequence provides for the possibility of stopping the launch procedure based on a check of the launch vehicle's engines and systems prior to launch. To do this, the launch pad is equipped with four special clamps that hold the rocket for some time after the engines are started on full power. If a malfunction is detected, the launch stops and the fuel and oxidizer are pumped out of the rocket. Thus, for both stages, it is possible to reuse and conduct bench tests before flight. A similar system was also used for the Shuttle and Saturn V.

fairing

The conical fairing is located at the top of the second stage and protects the payload from aerodynamic, thermal and acoustic influences during atmospheric flight. Consists of two halves and separates immediately after leaving the atmosphere. Separation mechanisms are fully pneumatic. The fairing, like the transition compartment, is made of a honeycomb, honeycomb-shaped aluminum base with a multi-layer carbon coating. The height of a standard Falcon 9 fairing is 13.1 m, diameter - 5.2 m, weight - about 1,750 kg. The radome is not used when launching the Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX is looking for a way to safely return fairing flaps for reuse.

Falcon 9 variants

The complete line of Falcon launch vehicles.

Falcon 9 v1.0

The first version of the launch vehicle, also known as Block 1. There were 5 launches of this version from 2010 to 2013.

The Falcon 9 v1.0 first stage used 9 Merlin 1C engines. The engines were arranged in a row, according to the 3 by 3 scheme. The total thrust of the engines was about 3800 kN at sea level, and about 4340 kN in vacuum, the specific impulse at sea level was 266 s, in vacuum - 304 s. Rated operating time of the first stage - 170 s.

The second stage used 1 Merlin 1C Vacuum engine, with a thrust of 420 kN and a vacuum specific impulse of 336 s. The nominal operating time of the second stage is 345 s. 4 Draco engines were used as the stage orientation system.

The height of the rocket was 54.9 m, the diameter was 3.7 m. The launch weight of the rocket was about 318 tons.

The launch cost for 2013 was $54-59.5 million.

The mass of the output cargo at the LEO - up to 9000 kg and at the GPO - up to 3400 kg. In fact, the rocket was only used to launch the Dragon spacecraft into low reference orbit.

During the launches, tests were carried out for the reuse of both stages of the launch vehicle. The initial strategy for using a lightweight heat shield for steps and parachute system did not justify itself (the landing process did not even reach the opening of parachutes, the stage was destroyed when entering the dense layers of the atmosphere), and was replaced by a controlled landing strategy using its own engines.

The so-called Block 2, a version of the rocket with improved Merlin 1C engines, which increase the total thrust of the launch vehicle to 4940 kN at sea level, with a payload mass for LEO - up to 10,450 kg and for GPO - up to 4540 kg. Subsequently, the planned developments were transferred to the new version 1.1.

Version 1.0 was discontinued in 2013 with the transition to Falcon 9 v1.1.

Falcon 9 v1.1

The layout of the engines. Falcon 9 v1.0 (left) and v1.1 (right)

The second version of the launch vehicle. The first launch took place in 2013.

The fuel and oxidizer tanks for both the first and second stages of the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle have been significantly lengthened compared to the previous version 1.0.

The first stage used 9 Merlin 1D engines, with increased thrust and specific impulse. The new type of engine has been given the ability to throttle from 100% to 70%, and possibly even lower. The arrangement of engines has been changed: instead of three rows of three engines, a layout with a central engine and the arrangement of the rest in a circle is used. The central engine is also mounted slightly lower than the others. The scheme is named Octaweb, it simplifies the overall design and assembly process of the first stage engine compartment. The total thrust of the engines is 5885 kN at sea level and increases to 6672 kN in vacuum, the specific impulse at sea level is 282 s, in vacuum it is 311 s. The nominal operating time of the first stage is 180 s. The height of the first stage is 45.7 m, the dry weight of the stage is about 23 tons (about 26 tons for the (R) modification). The mass of fuel placed is 395,700 kg, of which 276,600 kg is liquid oxygen and 119,100 kg is kerosene.

The second stage used 1 Merlin 1D Vacuum engine, thrust 801 kN with a vacuum specific impulse of 342 s. The nominal operating time of the second stage is 375 s. Instead of Draco engines, an orientation system using compressed nitrogen was used. The height of the second stage is 15.2 m, the dry weight of the stage is 3900 kg. The mass of fuel placed is 92,670 kg, of which 64,820 kg is liquid oxygen and 27,850 kg is kerosene.

The height of the rocket increased to 68.4 m, the diameter did not change - 3.7 m. The launch mass of the rocket increased to 506 tons.

The declared mass of the cargo to be withdrawn for LEO is 13,150 kg and for GPO is 4,850 kg.

The launch cost was $56.5 million in 2013, $61.2 million in 2015.

The last launch of this version took place on January 17, 2016 from the launch pad SLC-4E at the Vandenberg base, the Jason-3 satellite was successfully delivered into orbit.

Further launches will be made using the Falcon 9 FT launch vehicle.

Falcon 9 v1.1(R)

Titanium lattice rudders and a block of gas nozzles of the orientation system (under the flag)

Falcon 9 v1.1(R) ( R from English. reusable- reusable) is a modification of version 1.1 for controlled landing of the first stage.

Modified elements of the first stage:

1. The first stage is equipped with four folding landing legs used for soft landings. The total weight of the racks reaches 2100 kg;
2. Navigation equipment was installed to exit the stage to the landing point;
3. Three of the nine engines are designed for braking and have received an ignition system for restarting;
4. 1. Folding lattice rudders are mounted on top of the first stage to stabilize rotation and improve handling during the descent phase, especially when the engines are off (to save weight, the rudders used an open hydraulic system that does not require heavy high pressure pumps). The hydraulic system was later upgraded to a closed circuit and the aluminum rudders were replaced with titanium ones, making reusability easier. The new control surfaces are slightly longer and heavier than their aluminum predecessors, increase stage control capabilities, withstand temperatures without the need for an ablative coating, and can be used indefinitely with no inter-flight maintenance.
   2. An orientation system is installed in the upper part of the stage - a set of gas nozzles using the energy of compressed nitrogen to control the position of the stage in space before the release of the lattice rudders. On both sides of the stage there is a block, each with 4 nozzles directed forward, backward, sideways and down. Downward-facing nozzles are used prior to launching the three Merlin engines during stage deceleration maneuvers in space, the pulse generated drops the fuel to the bottom of the tanks, where it is captured by the engine pumps.

Falcon 9 Full Thrust

All returned Falcon 9 first stages have a striped appearance. White paint darkens due to soot from engines and heat. But frost forms on the oxygen tank, which protects it and it remains white.

An updated and improved version of the launch vehicle, designed to provide the ability to return the first stage after launching the payload to any orbit, both low reference and geotransfer. The new version, unofficially known as the Falcon 9 FT (Full Thrust; from English - "full thrust") or Falcon 9 v1.2, has replaced version 1.1.

Main changes: modified engine mount (Octaweb); landing legs and first stage are reinforced to match the increased mass of the rocket; the arrangement of lattice rudders has been changed; the composite compartment between the steps has become longer and stronger; the length of the second stage engine nozzle has been increased; a central pusher has been added to improve the reliability and accuracy of launch vehicle stages undocking.

The fuel tanks of the upper stage are increased by 10%, due to which the total length of the launch vehicle has increased to 70 m.

The launch weight increased to 549,054 kg due to the increase in the capacity of the fuel components, which was achieved through the use of a supercooled oxidizer.

AT new version launch vehicles use cooler propellant components. Liquid oxygen will be cooled from −183 °C to −207 °C, which will increase the density of the oxidizer by 8–15%. Kerosene will be cooled from 21 °C to -7 °C, its density will increase by 2.5%. The increased density of the components allows more fuel to be placed in the fuel tanks, which, together with the increased thrust of the engines, significantly increases the performance of the rocket.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 FT has been delivered to assembly hangar LC-39A after landing and is being prepared for test firing. The paint has peeled off in places, but there is no serious damage.

The new version uses modified Merlin 1D engines operating at full thrust (in the previous version, the thrust of the engines was deliberately limited), which has significantly increased the thrust performance of both stages of the launch vehicle.

Thus, the thrust of the first stage at sea level increased to 7607 kN, in vacuum - up to 8227 kN. The nominal time of operation of the stage was reduced to 162 seconds.

The thrust of the second stage in vacuum increased to 934 kN, the specific impulse in vacuum - 348 s, the engine operating time increased to 397 seconds.

The maximum payload to be launched into a low reference orbit (without the return of the first stage) is 22,800 kg, upon return of the first stage it will decrease by 30-40%. The maximum payload launched into the geotransfer orbit is 8300 kg, while the first stage returns to the floating platform - 5500 kg. The payload that can be brought to the flight trajectory to will be up to 4020 kg.

The first launch of the FT version took place on December 22, 2015, during the return to flight of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle after the crash of the SpaceX CRS-7 mission. 11 Orbcomm-G2 satellites were successfully launched into the target orbit, and for the first time the first stage successfully landed on the landing site on.

Falcon Heavy

Falcon Heavy launch vehicle ( heavy from English. - "heavy"), unlike the Falcon 9, will have an additional pair of accelerators attached to the side, created on the basis of the first stage of the FT.

The cost of launching a satellite weighing up to 8 tons to the GPO will be $ 90 million (2016). For a one-time version of the launch vehicle, the mass of the output cargo to LEO will be up to 63.8 tons, to GPO - 26.7 tons, up to 16.8 tons to Mars and up to 3.5 tons to .

The first launch of Falcon Heavy is scheduled for 2017.

Falcon 9 Block 4

Falcon 9 Block 4 is a transition model between Falcon 9 Full Thrust (Block 3) and Falcon 9 Block 5. The first flight took place on August 14, 2017, mission CRS-12.

Falcon 9 Block 5

In October 2016, Elon Musk spoke about the Falcon 9 Block 5 version, which has “a lot of small improvements that are very important in sum, and the most important are increased thrust and improved landing racks.” In January 2017, Elon Musk added that the Block 5 “significantly improves traction and ease of reusability.” He described this model as the "final" version of the rocket. Block 5 production is expected to begin in early 2017, with first flights in the second or third quarter of 2017.

Return and landing of the first stage

Having dispersed the second stage with the payload, the first stage turns off the engines and separates at an altitude of about 70 km. The undocking occurs approximately 2.5 minutes after the launch of the launch vehicle and depends on the specific task. The speed during stage undocking is also determined by the conditions of the problem, in particular, by the target orbit (LEO or GPO), the payload mass, and the stage landing site. For relatively low-energy launches to low Earth orbit, the separation stage speed is about 6,000 km/h (1,700 m/s; Mach 4.85), while for high-energy launches to a geotransfer orbit, when landing on a floating platform remote in the ocean is required ASDS, the speed reaches 8350 km/h (2300 m/s; Mach 6.75). After undocking, the first stage of the launch vehicle, using the attitude control system, performs a small maneuver to avoid the flame of the second stage and makes a forward turn with the engines in preparation for the three main deceleration maneuvers:

Scheme of returning the stage to the platform

1. The impulse to reverse course When returning to the launch site to the landing site, shortly after undocking, the stage uses a long (~40 s) activation of three engines to change the direction of its movement to the opposite, performing a complex loop with a peak altitude of about 200 km, with a maximum distance from the launch pad of up to 100 km in the horizontal direction. In the case of landing on a floating platform after launch into low Earth orbit, the stage continues to move along a ballistic trajectory by inertia up to an altitude of approximately 140 km. When approaching apogee, three thrusters are braked to reduce horizontal speed and set the direction to the platform, located approximately 300 km from the launch site. The duration of the engines is about 30-40 seconds. When a satellite is launched into geotransfer orbit, the first stage operates longer, using more propellant to gain more high speed before undocking, the reserve of remaining fuel is limited and does not allow a reset of the horizontal speed. After undocking, the stage moves along a ballistic trajectory (without braking) towards the platform located 660 km from the launch site. 2. Reentry impulse In preparation for entry into the dense layers of the atmosphere, the first stage brakes by turning on three engines at an altitude of about 70 km, which ensures entry into the dense layers of the atmosphere at an acceptable speed. In the case of a launch into a geotransfer orbit, due to the absence of a previous deceleration maneuver, the stage speed upon entry into the atmosphere is twice (2 km/s versus 1 km/s), and the thermal load is 8 times greater than the corresponding values ​​during launch into low Earth orbit. The lower part of the first stage and the landing struts are made using heat-resistant materials that make it possible to withstand the high temperature to which the stage elements heat up during entry into the atmosphere and movement in it. The duration of engine operation also varies depending on the availability of sufficient fuel reserve, from longer (25–30 s) for LEO launches to short (15–17 s) for LEO missions. At the same stage, the lattice rudders are opened and begin their work to control yaw, pitch and rotation. At an altitude of about 40 km, the engines are turned off and the stage continues to fall until reaching the final speed, and the lattice rudders continue to work until the landing itself. 3. Landing impulse

With a sufficient reserve of fuel, one, central, engine is turned on 30 seconds before landing and the stage slows down, providing a soft landing according to the scheme worked out as part of the Grasshopper project. The landing legs recline a few seconds before touching the landing pad. When launching into a geotransfer orbit, for the fastest speed reduction with less fuel consumption, a short, 10-second deceleration is used by three engines at once. The two outer engines are switched off before the central one, and the stage completes the last meters of flight using one engine, which is capable of throttling up to 40% of maximum thrust. Before final braking, the stage does not aim directly at the platform to avoid damaging it if the engine fails to start. Final taxiing occurs after the engine is started.

Returned stages (left to right: Orbcomm 2, JCSAT-14, SpaceX CRS-8)

The return of the first stage reduces the maximum payload of the launch vehicle by 30-40%. This is due to the need to reserve fuel for braking and landing, as well as the additional mass of landing equipment (landing legs, lattice rudders, jet control system, etc.).

SpaceX expects that at least half of all Falcon 9 launches will require the first stage landing on a floating platform, in particular all launches into geotransfer orbit and beyond Earth orbit.

In January 2016, after the failed stage landing on the Jason-3 mission, Elon Musk expressed his expectation that 70% of stage landing attempts in 2016 would be successful, with the percentage of successful landings increasing to 90 in 2017.

launch pads

Currently, Falcon 9 launches are made from two launch pads:

• (Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA) - LC-39A; leased from NASA since April 2014. Upgraded for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches, will be used for manned flights. The first launch from the site took place on February 19, 2017.
• (California, USA) - SLC-4E; leased from the US Air Force. The first launch was made on September 29, 2013. It is used to launch satellites (in particular, Iridium NEXT) into polar orbits.

One site is in the process of being rebuilt after a booster explosion in September 2016:

• US Air Force Base at Cape Canaveral (Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA) - SLC-40; leased from the US Air Force. From here, on June 4, 2010, the first launch of the Falcon 9 was carried out. This launch complex was previously used to launch the Titan III and Titan IV rockets.

At one more site, preparatory and construction and installation work is underway:

• SpaceX private spaceport (Boca Chica village near Brownsville, Texas, USA). It is under construction. The building permit was obtained in July 2014.

Site for suborbital flights and tests:

• McGregor Proving Ground in Texas. It was used to test the reusable systems of the first stages of the rocket as part of the Grasshopper project in 2012-2014.

landing pads

Landing zone 1, main landing

In accordance with the announced strategy for the return and reuse of the first stage of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, SpaceX entered into a lease for the use and refurbishment of 2 ground sites, on the west and east coasts of the United States.

• Cape Canaveral Air Force Base - Landing Zone 1 (formerly Launch Complex LC-13); leased from the US Air Force. The Falcon 9 first stage made its debut landing on December 22, 2015. It is planned to create 2 more landing sites, which will allow landing of Falcon Heavy side boosters.
• Vandenberg Base - Launch Complex SLC-4-West; leased from the US Air Force, is in the certification phase.

During launches, the conditions of which do not allow the Falcon 9 first stage to return to the launch site, landing is carried out on a specially made floating platform autonomous spaceport drone ship, which is a converted barge. The installed engines and GPS equipment allow it to be delivered to the required point and kept there, creating a stable landing area. The width of the platforms does not allow them to pass the Panama Canal from Vandenberg Base to Cape Canaveral, so SpaceX currently has two such platforms:

Autonomous unmanned spaceship. View from above

• "Of Course I Still Love You" (Marmac 304), US Atlantic coast, home port - Canaveral;
• "Just Read the Instructions" (Marmac 303), US Pacific coast, home port - Los Angeles.

Story

During a speech before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in May 2004, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said: “Long-term plans require a heavy and, if there is demand from buyers, even a super-heavy carrier.<…>Ultimately, I believe a payload cost of $500/lb (~1100 USD/kg) or less is achievable.”

SpaceX formally announced the launch vehicle on September 8, 2005, describing the Falcon 9 as "a fully reusable heavy launch vehicle". For the medium version of the Falcon 9, the weight of the cargo to LEO was indicated as 9.5 tons and the price was $27 million per flight.

On April 12, 2007, SpaceX announced that the bulk of the Falcon 9 first stage had been completed. The walls of the tanks are made of aluminum, the individual parts are connected by friction stir welding. The design was transported to the SpaceX center in Waco (Texas, USA), where bench fire tests of the first stage were carried out. The first tests with two engines attached to the first stage were carried out on January 28, 2008 and ended successfully. On March 8, 2008, three Merlin 1C engines were tested for the first time, five engines were tested simultaneously on May 29, and the first tests of all nine engines in the first stage, which were carried out on July 31 and August 1, ended successfully. On November 22, 2008, all nine engines of the first stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle passed tests with a duration corresponding to the flight duration (178 s).

Initially, the first flight of the Falcon 9 and the first flight of the Dragon Space Launch Vehicle (COTS) were scheduled for late 2008, but were repeatedly delayed due to the sheer amount of work that had to be done. According to Elon Musk, complexity technological developments and legal requirements for launches from Cape Canaveral affected timing. This was to be the first launch of a Falcon rocket from an operational spaceport.

In January 2009, the Falcon 9 launch vehicle was installed in a vertical position for the first time on the launch pad of the SLC-40 complex at Cape Canaveral.

August 22, 2014 at test site McGregor (Texas, USA) during a test flight, the three-engine F9R Dev1, a prototype of the Falcon 9 R reusable launch vehicle, was automatically destroyed a few seconds after launch. During the tests, the rocket was supposed to return to the launch pad after takeoff. A failure in the engines meant the inevitable fall of the rocket in an unplanned area. According to SpaceX spokesman John Taylor, the cause of the explosion was some "anomaly" found in the engine. No one was injured in the explosion. This was the fifth launch of the F9R Dev1 prototype. Elon Musk later clarified that the accident was due to a faulty sensor, and if such a fault had occurred in the Falcon 9, this sensor would have been blocked as a faulty one, since its readings contradicted data from other sensors. On the prototype, this blocking system was absent.

In January 2015, SpaceX announced its intention to improve the Merlin 1D engine to increase its thrust. In February 2015, it was announced that the first flight with improved engines would be the launch of the telecommunications satellite SES-9, scheduled for the second quarter of 2015. In March 2015, Elon Musk announced that work was underway that would make it possible to use the returnable first stage for launches to GPO: an increase in engine thrust by 15%, a deeper freeze of the oxidizer, and an increase in the volume of the upper stage tank by 10%.

In October 2015, it was decided that 11 Orbcomm-G2 communications satellites would be launched first using the new version of the launch vehicle. Since the satellites will operate in low Earth orbit (about 750 km), their launch will not require a restart of the Falcon 9 second stage. This allowed the upgraded second stage to be restarted and tested after the mission was completed without risk to the payload. A second stage restart is necessary to launch spacecraft into geotransfer orbit (for example, the SES 9 satellite).

First stage in hangar LC-39A

On December 22, 2015, at a press conference after the successful landing of the first stage on Landing Zone 1, Elon Musk announced that the landed stage would be delivered to the horizontal assembly hangar launch complex LC-39A for close examination. After that, a short test burn of the engines on the launch pad of the complex is planned, in order to find out if all systems are in good condition. According to Musk, this stage, most likely, will not be used for re-launches, after a thorough study, it will be left on the ground as a unique first instance. He also announced the possibility of a re-launch in 2016 of one of those that landed after future launches of the first stage. In early January 2016, Elon Musk confirmed that no significant damage was found to the stage and that it was ready for test firing.

Return Stage Engines (Octaweb)

On January 16, 2016, a test firing of the first stage of the Falcon 9 FT returned after the Orbcomm-G2 mission was carried out at the SLC-40 launch complex. In general, satisfactory results were obtained, but fluctuations in the thrust of the No. 9 engine were observed, possibly due to ingestion of debris. This is one of the external engines that is activated during gate maneuvers. The stage was returned to the LC-39A hangar for borescopic examination of the engine.

In January 2016, the US Air Force certified the Falcon 9 FT booster to launch US national security military and intelligence satellites, allowing SpaceX to compete with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) for government defense contracts.

Three returned stages in the hangar of the launch complex LC-39A

On April 8, 2016, after the launch of the Dragon spacecraft as part of the SpaceX CRS-8 mission, the first successful landing of the Falcon 9 first stage on a floating platform was made. Landing on a floating platform is more difficult because the platform is smaller than the landing area and is in constant motion due to waves.

On April 27, 2016, a $82.7 million contract was announced between SpaceX and the US Air Force to launch the GPS-3 satellite on a Falcon 9 launch vehicle in May 2018.

On May 6, 2016, as part of the JCSAT-14 mission, the first successful landing of the first stage on the platform was made after the satellite was launched into geotransfer orbit. The return profile was characterized by a multiple increase in temperature load on the stage when entering the dense layers of the atmosphere, so the stage received the most external damage compared to the other two that landed earlier. Previously, a landing according to a similar pattern was undertaken on March 4, 2016 after the launch of the SES-9 satellite, but then it ended in failure.

July 28, at the SpaceX test site in Texas, a full-fledged burning of the first stage of the Falcon 9 (serial number F9-0024-S1), which returned after the launch of the JCSAT-14 satellite, which the company uses for ground tests, was carried out. Nine stage engines operated for 2.5 minutes, which corresponds to the segment of the first stage at launch.

On March 14, 2017, a $96.5 million contract was announced with the US Air Force to launch one more GPS-3 satellite in February 2019.



The launch of the Falcon 9, with which SpaceX launched another satellite into orbit on January 31, was supposed to be experimental. The first stage of the rocket, after being launched according to the plan, landed back in a more economical way. To avoid damaging the offshore landing platform in the event of failures, the stage was planned to be landed at sea, where it would sink. However, in practice, she remained floating on the surface, and now SpaceX is considering towing it to shore. About what is happening writes Elon Musk on his Twitter account.

This time, the first stage used for launch was serial number B1032, which had previously been used twice for Falcon 9 launches. However, unlike previous cases, B1032 was not planned to be salvaged for reuse. Instead, the company conducted an experiment on her: she had to sit down sharper and more economically than usual. Today, the Falcon 9's first stages are powered by just one of nine Merlin 1D engines. In the last launch, the rocket had to be slowed down by three engines at once. This is a more complicated way (you need to coordinate impulses from three different engines so that the step does not fall on its side during landing). But it is more economical: faster braking means less fuel consumption during landing, the stages have less time to fight against the earth's gravity.

Since such a landing was the first in history, it was unclear whether the stage would damage (if it did fall on its side) SpaceX's offshore landing platform. Because of this, the stage was planted in the sea. It was supposed to get telemetry from the rocket showing how successful the three-engine deceleration method was, and then accept that it would sink. However, as can be seen in the photo, the step sat down so smoothly that it did not sink into the water and did not pick it up when the seams were destroyed. Since, after running out of fuel, the first stage is mostly occupied from the inside by empty tanks, it weighs less than water and floats on its surface.

Elon Musk notes that the company did not expect such a turn of events, believing that the stage would still sink. The miscalculation was due to the fact that so far no one had the experience of a controlled landing of the first stages on water. To understand how this affects the parameters of the stage, SpaceX plans to send a ship to it and tow it to the coast for a detailed study.

From the new experimental landing, it is obvious that landing on three working engines at once is safe enough. The company intends to plant its first steps in this way in the future. This will reduce the amount of fuel consumed to save the stage, and thereby increase the payload of the reusable version of the Falcon 9.