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11/24/2024 12:40:38 am

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SpaceX Reveals Incredible 3D Animation Video of Falcon 9 Launch and Booster Recovery

Space Exploration Technologies or SpaceX has just released a 3D animation video for the upcoming launch of one of its Falcon Heavy rockets from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX will do something unusual with its landing that could revolutionize how rockets can be reused and re-flown. It plans to land all three rocket boosters at their launch pads.

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Its design is mostly similar to the United Launch Alliance's Delta IV Heavy but the Falcon Heavy is designed with a triple body. Currently, Falcon's side boosters and main booster are designed to touch down safely back on land instead of splashing into the ocean.

On its next mission, the Falcon Heavy's boosters will land using controlled ballistics. Its two boosters will return to the launch complex in Cape Canaveral. 

All Cape Canaveral landing sites are marked with a distinct SpaceX "X" but the two boosters aren't the only ones that will land back to Earth. The central core booster will also land at the launch complex after releasing its payload.

SpaceX is near its goal in soft landing its spent rockets on a landing platform. Last January 10, Falcon 9 made its way back to the floating launch pad off the coast of Florida. Unfortunately, the first stage of the rocket hit the barge and exploded into a fiery display of lights.

If successful, the next landing will mean rockets can be reused and re-flown, slashing expensive space mission costs. It's quite a challenge for SpaceX to land one of its boosters back on the launching pad but having three booster cores carry out a perfect landing is a feat for the space industry.

This year, the company plans to not only conduct test flights for its Falcon Heavy rockets but will also perform an abort test of its Dragon V2 spacecraft this March. Dragon will be used for 17 space missions in the near future.

The next launch is set on February 8. Falcon will send a weather satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA into orbit.

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