SpaceX warns of failure in Wednesday’s rocket landing

Watch for Ken’s onsite launch reports direct from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Why attempt a sea landing when the logistics point to a flop? However, they will attempt sea-based rocket landing after tomorrow’s launch. The mission would take the SES-9 satellite, originally slated to go up last August, into an orbit to provide TV and other communications to serve South Asia, including Indonesia and the Philippines.

SES officials a year ago first made comments about potentially buying a flight for one of the company’s telecom satellites on a used Falcon 9, and Halliwell doubled down on the commitment Tuesday.

Then, SpaceX will try again to land the tall part of its rocket, known as the first stage, on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

Because of the SES satellite’s high weight, the rocket launching this week will be flying nearly twice as fast as the one used in December – between 4,971- to 5,592 miles per hour ( 8,000- to 9,000 kph), compared to 3,107 miles per hour (5,000 kph) – by the time it separates from the second-stage motor, SpaceX said.

The last three times SpaceX attempted barge landings all ended in failure.

“We actually went out and saw the vehicle that was brought back”, Halliwell said. The feat could be a good business move for CEO Elon Musk, by delivering more than the client expected, but the maneuver will require more fuel, put the Falcon 9 in a more hard location, and make a successful touchdown much less likely. “That’s something which I would really like to do”. “They have to work through all the various flight verification tests, etc., but once we get through that, I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t fly on it”, he said.

SES, which now operates a constellation of 53 satellites, has three more satellites under contract to fly on SpaceX Falcon rockets through 2017, Halliwell said.

“Insurers are very interesting people”, Halliwell said. So far, SpaceX has only been able to land the Falcon 9 on solid ground – as it did in December.

SpaceX needs to master the art of the drone landing before completing the design and construction of its next rocket type, the Falcon 9 Heavy, Dr. McDowell explained to the Monitor.

SpaceX says introducing reusability into the launch market will cut the cost of space transportation and expand access to space for more satellites and smaller companies.

Wednesday’s mission has even lower chances of success, say SpaceX materials.