Space Exploration Technologies Corporation Prepares To Launch Rocket With Landing Capability

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (Space X) will be launching a rocket on January 6. However unlike traditional launches, the focus of this rocket will not be its flight but its landing. The company is founded by the founder of Tesla Motors (NYSE: TSLA), Elon Musk himself.

Space X will be testing its reusable rocket, Falcon 9, which will be launched at 6:20 a.m. and will be carrying cargo to International Space Station. The rocket will then separate from the Dragon capsule and attempt to land on a platform on Atlantic Ocean.

Although Falcon 9 already had been landed successfully twice in water, this will be the first time it will land on specially designed platform called autonomous spaceport drone ship. The success of this mission will prove to be a milestone in space journeys. This will allow the rocket to be used again for next mission, which will radically reduce the cost of space trips.

The biggest problem in landing the rocket would be precision. Space X aims to achieve a landing precision of 33 feet which it likens to balancing a rubber broomstick on your hand during a storm. Elon Musk, CEO and Founder of Space X, said that the operation had a success chance of 50%.

Tory Bruno, chief executive officer of the United Launch Alliance said that the technology is not developed enough for this kind of mission to be attempted however, Elon Musk is optimistic about the operation and says that even if tomorrow’s mission proves to be a failure, they will succeed on one of the dozen similar missions scheduled during the next year.

Space X rocket was also launched on its journey to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier in January. The launch was successful, but the landing, which was the main objective of the mission, ended in failure.

The rocket, Falcon 9, was launched on January 10 at 4:47AM. It was carrying about 5,000 pounds of cargo to the space station. It was expected to later land on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean, from where it was to be used again for future space missions.

The concept of reusable rocket was introduced to save costs related to space missions. Usually rockets, when used in such journeys, cannot be used again without incurring huge costs. A successful landing of the rocket would have been an historic achievement for Space X.

However the landing was not successful according to the tech news. Although the rocket managed to locate the platform, it landed too hard. Although the rocket was not too much damaged, the mission was still considered a failure. This should not come as surprise, since the mission already had 50% chance of failing.

Elon Musk, who has already planned a dozen more such missions, is not dispirited. He said in his Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) post that although they were close to success, the rocket did not have a perfect landing. He has however, shown his commitment to continue the project by announcing that the mission has shown potential for future success.