Reusable Rockets

Universidad de las Américas Puebla

José Emilio Pacheco Cuan and Jorge Forcelledo Alatriste
 Reusable rockets
Abstract: This essay focuses directly on answering the following question: Are reusable
rockets the greatest technological advance in recent years? In this essay we will find different
approaches based on reusable rockets, there will be arguments why this technology is the
most important in the last 5 years, we will be able to observe a process regarding reusable
rockets, information regarding the context, and the background of this technology,
a scientific and political approach will be discussed, and how space exploration has been
relevant for more than 50 years, but more importantly, where can this technology take us in
50 more years? In summary, in this essay you will find everything related to reusable rockets,
their antecedents, background, uses, functions, and the aspirations that can be completed by
perfecting this type of technology.
INTRODUCTION
In this essay, the reusable rockets, the most important technological advance of the
last five years, will be discussed to. Because the development of these technologies will allow
us to significantly reduce the cost of launching things into space, and what are reusable
rockets contributing to the world? Elon Musk, the founder of one of the most important
aerospace companies of the last century once said “I think fundamentally the future is vastly
more exciting and interesting if we're a spacefaring civilization and a multiplanet species
than if we're or not. You want to be inspired by things. You want to wake up in the morning
and think the future is going to be great. And that's what being a spacefaring civilization is
all about” (Sep 2017 | at the International Astronautical Congress). Are reusable rockets the
greatest technological achievement of the last five years?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Background
The first generation of reusable launch vehicles in human history was developed by
the NASA, with the initial design objectives of decreasing the launch cost to thirty million
dollars per time and compressing the launch interval to 1 – 2 weeks. It was soon discovered
that the task presented non-predicted difficulties which resulted in the cost of half a billion
dollars per launch and a launch preparation period from two to three months. More challenges
were discovered along the process, as the life of fourteen astronauts were lost during the 135
launch tasks. Another (and probably the biggest) issue presented itself: the long- duration
maintenance, which required large quantities of manpower and material resources. After the
project was dropped by the NASA in 2011, the research was redirected to the reusable liquid
rocket, which currently resulted in the main objective of achieving to reuse the first stage of
the launched rocket. In 2015, a major breakthrough was achieved by Space X, a company
which managed to recover and reutilize the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket successfully. As
a result of Space X’s attainment, similar projects have been developed by several space
powers. Today, the recovery of multiple boosters has been proven possible by the most
powerful rocket in service: The Long March 5 rocket.
Future vision
There is a wide range of possibilities as to the development of reusable rockets in the
future, however, Rocket Lab’s plans for the New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket for Mega-
Constellation Deployment stands out amongst the ongoing projects. Rocket Lab aims to
develop a modern 8-ton payload class launch vehicle designed for mega-constellation
deployment, interplanetary missions and human spaceflight. In the past, Rocket Lab has
demonstrated its expertise in the area with the Electron launch vehicle’s success: which is
nothing less than the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually since 2019.
Rocket Lab is currently attempting to step up its game by unlocking a new, groundbreaking,
category with the development of “Neutron”. If the expectations projected are met, Neutron
will be able to transform space access for satellite constellations and provide a dependable,
high-flight-rate dedicated launch solution for larger commercial and government payloads.
As stated by Rocket Lab’s CEO, the 8-ton lift capacity of Neutron will not only make
Neutron’s size ideal to deploy satellites in batched to specific orbital planes in order to reach
mega constellations but will also be able to deliver a committed service to orbit for a larger
civil, defense and commercial payloads.
METHOLOGY
The dream of many people of being a multiplanetary species seemed more than
impossible, for a long time, the space business has been fully controlled
by governmental organizations, and it’s a fact that as time goes on, governments lose interest
in the space race. The immense interest during the cold war is fading, and this is reflected in
the decrease in the budget to these institutions. That is the main reason why private
companies interested in this area have made an incredible progress in the last 5 years.
 It is not a secret that Elon Musk, the CEO and founder of SpaceX has publicly stated
that his greatest interest within 10 years is to terraform Mars. Blue Origin, another private
company, founded by the richest men in the world Jeff Bezos has the goal of having a
functional lunar base, the future of space exploration looks promising, and NASA has
awarded a contract with SpaceX for 332 million dollars in order to use its reusable rockets to
support missions of all kinds, form taking astronauts to the International Space Station to
launch and subsequent launching of private satellites. The biggest brake on the development
of this technology is money, since recently the few organizations dedicated to space
exploration were public. It is estimated that companies like SpaceX reduce NASA´s costs
per launch by 40 million dollars, the limit is no longer money, and neither is the sky.
RESULTS
For the development of a technology that must be as precise as a rocket that returns to earth,
the tests, the data analysis, and the errors are more than usual. For a long time, this type
of project has failed, but that has not prevented engineers, physicists, mathematicians and
programmers from continuing with their work. Today the fruit of all those
mistakes is reflected in the success that SpaceX reusable rockets are today. As SpaceX
mentions in its report updated every second, there have been
54 reflown rockets. Consequently, it is true that the Falcon 9 is reusable, being the world's
first orbital class reusable rocket.
CONCLUSION
Based on the above, and the information collected through this essay, we can observe
the main reason why the topic and thesis statement were chosen, reusable rockets have been
a revolution in the world of aeronautics and space engineering, 10 years ago these types of
advances, especially in this field were unimaginable, and today they are a reality. Thanks to
this advance we have the foundations to aspire to something grater, perhaps even making
our species a multiplanetary species.
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