Ilon Mask learned how to catch SpaceX head fairings, and saves him well

SpaceX, which is already more than 15 years oldmanufactures launch vehicles and spacecraft, trying in every way to reduce the cost of launching its vehicles. Every detail of space technology costs a lot of money, so engineers are trying to make them reusable so that they do not need to be re-assembled. In 2015, the first stages of rockets became reusable - since then they have been returned to Earth 43 times and reused 24 times. Now the company went further, and successfully returned to the Earth the head fairing of the Falcon Heavy rocket.

The head fairing is called the toppart of the cone-shaped missile - thanks to her, the aircraft experiences minimal air resistance and takes off faster. Falcon Heavy is made from a variety of materials, such as carbon fiber and aluminum, and is also equipped with sophisticated electronics. Because of all this, the assembly of one fairing costs six million dollars - by making them reusable, a company can save quite a lot of money.

SpaceX returns the Falcon head fairing to Earth

The first attempts to return the head fairingsback to Earth, the company began to take back in 2017. To ensure a soft landing, she equipped them with guided parachutes, which are able to send them with great precision to the net tensioned on the GO Ms Tree ship. After several unsuccessful attempts, during which the fairing missed and broke against the water, the company nevertheless achieved its goal - on June 25, 2019, the fairing successfully fell into the net strung on the vessel.

Ship GO Ms Tree

The fairing was equipped with a camera, soSpaceX was able to capture the landing process and publish the video on the Internet. On it you can see the separation of the fairing from the launch vehicle, the flight itself, and the entrance to the dense layers of the atmosphere, during which the metal begins to glow and glow. At the very end, the vehicle is lowered onto the ship with a parachute.

</ p>

Probably returning to Earth, the fairing will beused again, because the maximum that he needs is a small repair. Most likely, it will soar into the sky during the next dispatch of satellites for distribution of the Internet Starlink. It is believed that he will earn in 2020.

We also recommend reading: Starlink Project: how will SpaceX satellite internet work?

If you are interested in the news of science and technology, subscribe to our channel in Yandex. Dzen. There you will find materials that have not been published on the site!