Monday, July 1, 2019

Netted fairing

SpaceX safely recovered one of Falcon Heavy's two fairings, in addition to the two side boosters that were safely recovered, after last week's launch.


The two fairings protect the payload at the tip of Falcon Heavy during launch, then are jettisoned in space to fall back to earth. Measuring 43 feet by 17 feet, they're made of aluminum honeycomb and carbon fiber. 

SpaceX has been trying for a year and a half to bring fairings back in good shape to be re-used, but without much luck. They have been recovered after landing in the sea, but salt water is damaging.

After much trial and error, one fairing was successfully caught by a boat with a big net last week. Why bother? The two fairings are worth about $6 million.

No comments:

Post a Comment