SpaceX could relaunch its first rocket in September

Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has in the past been jokingly compared to comic book icon Iron Man.

Musk has even bigger goals for SpaceX – at the technology Code Conference last week, he announced plans to take humans to Mars by 2025.

If it goes ahead, this would make it the first relaunch of the private space company’s rockets.

SpaceX has successfully launched Falcon 9, but a mission to Mars would depend on untested Falcon Heavy [Photo courtesy SpaceX]”I do want to emphasize this is not about sending a few people to Mars”, Musk told The Washington Post. But now it’s time for the final step in creating truly re-usable rockets and revolutionizing spaceflight forever: re-launch. “It’s about having an architecture that would enable the creation of a self-sustaining city on Mars with the objective of being a multi-planet species and a true space-faring civilization and one day being out there among the stars”. SpaceX’s business model is launching satellites as a service. However, virtually all large military satellites launched by the ULA use RD-180 engines purchased from Russia’s Energomash, which is majority owned by the Russian government.

While the cost of re-usable rockets, technical hurdles and market viability have yet to be tested, Le Gall says Musk is well advanced and that Europe must move faster.

The California-based company said it plans to use a previously-flown Falcon 9 booster stage later this year and cut the flight price further down from the current $61 million it says it charges for commercial payloads. “Aiming for first re-flight in Sept/Oct” he Tweeted. Musk’s most recent achievement involved deploying satellites, and then landing the rockets used for the launch.

Officially, the Pentagon stated the SpaceX founder’s visit was merely to discuss “innovation”, something Musk certainly specializes in, and something the Department of Defense is always in the market for.

Musk also said on Twitter that the Falcon 9 which launched the Thaicom 8 communications satellite is back in their hangar. Rival company Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, had earlier landed a rocket in November, but that rocket did not transport any supplies.

Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency are also developing similar technology and are in testing stages.

SpaceX landed its first rocket on land in December. Initially, he had hoped for a June re-launch, but rocketry and space travel being what it is, a delay is understandable.