On December 18, local time, a Falcon 9 carrier rocket numbered B1051 sent 52 "Starlink" satellites into space, so far, SpaceX has launched more than 2,000 "Starlink" satellites into orbit. But compared to the "Starlink", more attention is this Falcon 9 rocket, because this is already its 11th mission.
11 hand Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched
As a fist product of SpaceX's recyclable rocket, Falcon 9 claims to be reusable 9 times, a total of 10 launches, Musk was originally prepared to pick up after its 10th mission, make a lawn artwork, and be a sculpture. Unexpectedly, he picked up the door and picked it up for 224 days, and after the overhaul was completed, he actually let the B1051 take off and make the 11th flight, which really wanted to squeeze the surplus value dry.
How many times can falcon 9 be reused?
B1051 first flew on March 2, 2019, on the first unmanned Demo-1 mission of the manned Dragon 2 spacecraft, and then on June 12 of that year, a "radar satellite mission constellation" satellite was sent into space. On January 29, April 23, August 7, October 18, December 14, and January 20, March 14, May 9 and December 18, 2020, another 9 missions were carried out, of which 8 were used to launch their own "StarLink", it can be said that nearly a quarter of the current 2,000 "StarLink" satellites were launched by this rocket.
Almost 1/4 of the Starlink satellites were launched by this rocket
Fifty or sixty satellites are launched at a time
On December 18, after the successful launch, SpaceX recovered the B1051, which is said to be numbered B1051.12, is Musk going to launch it 12 more times? Interestingly, in the next few missions, when the B1051 was re-established on the launch pad, it didn't even bother to brush the paint, and the sticker of the current mission was even applied, and the smoke and fire of the whole body was another form of "medal".
B1051 was successfully recovered for the 11th time
Black is a medal, really don't need to paint
It is worth mentioning that just the day after B1051 was launched and successfully recovered, within 18 hours, SpaceX used another second-hand Falcon 9 rocket to send a Turkish communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit on December 19. So far, spaceX alone has carried out 31 launches this year, all of which were created by Falcon 9, accounting for more than 60% of the number of launches in the United States this year. The number of rocket launches in the United States so far this year has reached 50, which is only 1 difference with China. Then, on Dec. 21, the Falcon 9 launches another, planned to deliver the Cargo Dragon spacecraft CRS-24 to the International Space Station, when the United States will equal China's 2021 launch record, reaching 51.
Within 18 hours, another Falcon 9 was fired
The fairing is also old
Fairing for the 11th launch of the B1051
Although many people say that Musk is a big liar, thinking that "Starship" and "Starchain" are too foolish, but to be honest, the Falcon 9 rocket is really reliable. With rapid reuse, ultra-high success rate and ultra-low quotation, it crushed the global commercial rocket launch market, not only allowing India's cheap launch to "hit the water with a bamboo basket", but also making the ESA unable to do its own business, and forcing Russia to endure a big price reduction, and even robbed China of the international orders that were difficult to take away.
The Falcon 9 nearly crushed the global commercial launch market
Now, including our "national team" and private space companies, we are all engaged in recyclable reusable rockets, a concept that Musk first proposed, but it is indeed his successful commercialization. If the "starship" is really successful in the future, it is said that the launch price can be reduced by 90% on the basis of the "Falcon" 9, which is really a dimensionality reduction blow to the global commercial launch market.
The success of a starship would make global commercial launches cheaper
Xiaobian is not a Musk fan, but we do have to correctly understand this new world richest man who can't dance and has his own haircut, blindly abusive and despised to no avail. Whether he is a realistic version of "Iron Man", or a "marketing genius", or a big liar, Musk's appearance is indeed like a catfish, stirring up the global commercial rocket launch market, and even the entire space industry. Ask yourself, compared with the Cold War period, human exploration of the universe is much slower, but also "lazy" a lot, the pressure brought by Musk is spurring many countries' space departments to accelerate forward.
Whether he was a genius or a liar, this fat man was at least interesting