If you ask an engineer a question about rocket science the answer would be “it isn’t easy”, when same question being asked to NASA the answer is “it isn’t cheap”. To overcome this difficulty, many commercial spaceflight firms have walked in, to support national space agencies. Companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have introduced the reusable rockets. By doing this, they have affectedly reduced the cost, improving both our capability to explore the universe and scientists’ capacity to conduct research beyond our Earth.
As a private firm SpaceX has achieved some unique feat by delivering a cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) back in 2012. Usually, this is something that only governments do. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk made an important announcement today. That is; humans are going back to the Moon. The company is working on the Crew Dragon, a spacecraft that would be able to take humans to International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX even plans to land on Mars, Musk is doing everything to make sure that happens. Even Private Spaceflight companies are leading the charge now to explore the space. The main reason behind this is reusing boosters, which helps to reduce the cost of launches.
According to SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, we won’t have to build a completely new rocket for every new mission, the reusability will lower about 30 percent of the total cost that is a big feat that will be very beneficial for private firms. This means that we can have more frequent and cheaper launches. Likewise, Musk states that these rocket would be a big step towards development of our research, he added: “A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space. If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred.”
After the first landing of Blue Origin’s New Shepard reusable rocket, Bezos said: “the Holy Grail of rocketry. I believe this is a new Golden Age of space exploration. The first Golden Age was the ’60s. We have been treading water for a long time. We are on the verge of a new Golden Age in rocketry. I believe one day all rockets will have landing gear.”
Musk just revealed that SpaceX will be sending two private citizen in a spacecraft around the Moon. The space company said in a statement that the two individuals have “already paid a significant deposit” are ready to do Moon mission. This would be the first flight to the moon after more than 45 years with a crew and SpaceX did a splendid job: “Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration.”
SpaceX also outlined the nature of the job and clarifiedthat:
“SpaceX is ready to fly two private spacecraft on a trip around the moon at the end of next year. We suppose to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year. Other flight teams have also expressed strong interest and we expect more to follow.”
The firm is working on an ultimate goal on transporting humans to Mars. To break this down, SpaceX plans to launch the Crew Dragon (Dragon Version 2) spacecraft to the ISS without people on board this year, and then a subsequent mission with crew will fly in the second quarter of 2018.
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