SpaceX rocket explodes during sea-platform landing

So close, and yet so far: after successfully launching the Jason-3 satellite into orbit on Sunday, the SpaceX Falcon 9 main stage rocket nearly landed on the floating Just Read The Instructions barge.

But what the video really reveals is not a failure but just another tiny step toward SpaceX’s ultimate goal of using efficient re-entry rockets that will soon make space missions more affordable.

SpaceX conducted Sunday’s launch, which was made from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, for NASA. Jason-3 will float around 830 miles above the planet, tracking the rate of global sea-level rise, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

SpaceX’s two previous attempts to land a rocket on a barge in the Atlantic have failed, though last month the company successfully landed a rocket vertically at Cape Canaveral, Fla., after dropping satellites into orbit.

SpaceX third attempt at landing Falcon 9 on a landing pad floating the sea was still unsuccessful due to a rocket leg that did not latch. The rockets which cost between $60 million to $90 million are generally discarded after launch.

The idea to land the rocket on a platform in the ocean is based on a future perspective to reuse rockets carrying out more demanding tasks when there’s not enough fuel left to reach land.

The company’s subsequent launch will take off from Florida no earlier than February 6, but that rocket must deliver the SES-9 communications satellite to geostationary orbit.

However, Musk later clarified events, explaining the leg had failed to deploy in the seconds prior to landing, meaning that however gentle the touchdown, it was nearly certain to come crashing down.

The 1,200-pound spacecraft is the fourth in a series of ocean-monitoring satellites taking center stage in monitoring Earth’s climate. “Similar to an aircraft carrier vs land: much smaller target area, that’s also translating & rotating”. But he adds the ship landings are necessary for “high velocity missions”. NOAA is partnering with NASA, the French Space Agency CNES, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

The cost of the mission, including five years of operation, was put at $180 million.