Despite the 100 per cent success of bringing back a Falcon-9 rocket to Earth in December, SpaceX now says that its next attempt of a successful return will be on a floating barge out at sea.  Two previous attempts at a barge landing have been unsuccessful.

The reason is that SpaceX is using a different, older version of the Falcon-9 (version 1.1). This version, says SpaceX, isn’t quite as powerful as its latest rockets and a sea landing needs less fuel because the barge can be waiting at the end of the rocket’s journey.

The scheduled launch is a week away, on January 17^th when the rocket’s primary mission is to loft a Jason-3 ocean monitoring satellite for NASA.  The launch will take place from Vandenberg airbase in California.

Other posts by :

1. Paramount throws kitchen sink
2. Ukraine wants its own LEO system
3. SpaceX outlines Starlink cellular delivery plan
4. NAB vs CTIA on C-band release
5. Laser terminals to operate at 100x faster
6. Starlink success in Spain, but South Africa proves difficult
7. RocketLab doubts over Mynaric bid
8. IRIS2 free for government usage?
9. Bank: AST SpaceMobile will orbit 356 satellites by 2030

Categories: Articles, DTH/Satellite