The US company SpaceX completed an historic vertical landing of its Falcon 9 rocket after being launched a few minutes before — the first time such a feat had been achieved. The rocket had been launched at 8.29pm (local time) from Cape Canaveral in Florida to release 11 satellites in low earth orbit. The Falcon 9 reached a height of 200km above ground before it turned back. According to the flight schedule the first rocket stage separated and floated back to earth where it landed vertically around 10 minutes after the launch.
Amid tightening budgets, space agencies are increasingly looking to the commercial space sector to provide the launch vehicles of the future. Companies such as SpaceX now offer highly reliable and economically viable launch vehicles which can send a large variety of payloads into Earth orbit. One way to control cost is by optimising fuel burned during launch to minimize waste. A specially developed fuel-trim valve guarantees optimum performance in this situation. It is driven by robust and reliable servomotors made by Faulhaber.
Massive new Coventry campus targets 60GWh battery output
Where will all the raw materials come from for the manufacturing process? How will they be transported to the factory and what is going to be done with the various scrap and residues?