Below is a collection of news and updates on reusable rocket powered vehicles in operation and in development. See also these previous roundups:<\/p>\n
Such technology should eventually lead to space transports with aircraft-like operation. That is, orbital flight and return followed by rapid reflight with minimal preparation. Vehicles should fly thousands of times with only occasional refurbishment and, most importantly, spacefare should fall to levels similar to long distance airfare.<\/p>\n
In the decades following the launch of Sputnik 1, missile derived expendable launchers dominated and progress towards reusable transports moved at a slow crawl. The one major attempt at reusablity, the Space Shuttle, was a major disappointment, providing no reduction in space transport costs due to the lengthy refurbishment and component replacements after each flight. However, progress sped up considerably in the past decade with the arrival of the SpaceX Falcon 9, whose boosters have achieved 276 reflights and 305 landings<\/a> as of May.8.2024.<\/p>\n Reusable rocket powered vehicle designs fall roughly into the following five categories:<\/p>\n Below are reports on several projects and programs that fall into at least one of these categories.<\/p>\n ** SpaceX Starship<\/strong><\/a> –\u00a0 Preparations for 4th test flight, Elon Musk design update, construction of new launch tower, etc. Starship news highlights since the last update:<\/p>\n More about these items follows.<\/p>\n ** Elon Musk update presentation on April 4, 2024<\/strong> to SpaceX employees: To make life multiplanetary – SpaceX Updates – Apr.6.2024<\/a><\/p>\n The goal of SpaceX is to build the technologies necessary to make life multiplanetary. This is the first time in the 4-billion-year history of Earth that it\u2019s possible to realize that goal and protect the light of consciousness.<\/em><\/p>\n At Starbase on Thursday, April 4, SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk provided an update on the company\u2019s plans to send humanity to Mars, the best destination to begin making life multiplanetary.<\/em><\/p>\n All of SpaceX\u2019s current programs, including Falcon, Dragon, Starlink, and Starship are integral to developing the technologies necessary to make missions to Mars a reality. The update included near-term priorities for Starship that will unlock its ability to be fully and rapidly reusable, the core enabler for transforming humanity\u2019s ability to send large amounts of payload to orbit and beyond. With more flight tests, significant vehicle upgrades, and missions returning astronauts to the surface of the Moon with NASA\u2019s Artemis Program all coming soon, excitement will continue to be guaranteed with Starship.<\/em><\/p>\n The talk also includes the mechanics and challenges of traveling to Mars, along with what we\u2019re building today to enable sending around a million people and several million tonnes to the Martian surface in the years to come.<\/em><\/p>\n At Starbase, @ElonMusk<\/a> provided an update on the company\u2019s plans to send humanity to Mars, the best destination to begin making life multiplanetary pic.twitter.com\/PiX8XOgQs5<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
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