Watch SpaceX Catch Both Fairing Halves for the First Time

SpaceX’s mission on Monday included another milestone for the company – the first time they’ve been able to catch both halves of a rocket’s nosecone fairing as it returns to Earth.

The company shared videos of the accomplishment on Tuesday.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1285632635335782401

SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk has said the rocket parts are worth about $6 million, so the ability to reuse the fairings adds up to significant savings.

The company previously caught one half, while others landed in the sea.

Just as SpaceX has managed to stick the landing for its first stage booster, it will be interesting to see if the company continues to improve the fairing saves.

SpaceX conducted a successful launch and land of a Falcon 9 rocket Monday in a mission to deliver South Korea’s first military satellite into space.

 

[pgolden]

Is anyone besides me (An east coast of Florida resident) concernEd about that big-ass parachute just dropping in the sea to become more ocean trash and possibly trapping marine life? Seems like with all their engineering know-how they could capture the parachute too. Maybe they do; the video clip doesn’t really say.

 

[Gulbuth]

It'll float for awhile. If that's a manned boat they may have turned around and picked it up.

Gulbuth the Rampant

 

[Grendal]

Yes. They recover the very expensive parachute.

If you're worried about ocean clutter then I'd be more upset that every other launch company in the world just lets their booster drop into the ocean. SpaceX actually recovers their boosters - then reuses them. 56 times so far. So that is 56 boosters that were not just turned into ocean trash.

In 2019, there was 102 rocket launches around the world and SpaceX had 13 of them. So that is 89 rocket boosters dropped into the ocean or, in some cases, on land (Russia and China does this).

SpaceX attempts to recover as much of their rocket as possible and has been working on recovering the fairings for years. This is the first time they've recovered both halves without landing in the ocean first.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

Too cool for words!

 

[RedTesY]

I agree, the parachute should be recovered, if only to prevent more trash in the ocean if it can't be reused. Seems that they release the chute on capture. If they just release one side it would de-power the chute and it could be recovered. Anyone have a contact with SpaceX to ask? Inquiring minds want to know...

 

[adiggs]

I agree, the parachute should be recovered, if only to prevent more trash in the ocean if it can't be reused. Seems that they release the chute on capture. If they just release one side it would de-power the chute and it could be recovered. Anyone have a contact with SpaceX to ask? Inquiring minds want to know...

I wouldn't trust release on one side - even if it's not 'inflated', it's still a big sheet to grab the wind, and if it pulls the fairing out of the net, that's bad / expensive. If it floats for awhile though, pretty easy to run back around and throw out a fishing line though ....

 

[HankLloydRight]

How do they track the fairings? GPS? Is it human-assisted or semi-automated? What's the terminal velocity of the falling fairing with the chute? I wish there was a 5 minute video "How we catch the fairings".

 

[mongo]

How do they track the fairings? GPS? Is it human-assisted or semi-automated? What's the terminal velocity of the falling fairing with the chute? I wish there was a 5 minute video "How we catch the fairings".

GPS and boat is automated during the landing.
(please forgive the lack of a link)

 

[mongo]

How do they track the fairings? GPS? Is it human-assisted or semi-automated? What's the terminal velocity of the falling fairing with the chute? I wish there was a 5 minute video "How we catch the fairings".

Link: Extended transcript: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on putting boots on the moon and Mars

And then it hits the atmosphere, it goes subsonic. We deploy the parachutes. And the parachute itself is a steerable parachute with actuators. So it's steering itself down and coming down on glide path. And then the boat closes a data link with each fairing half. And the boat adjusts course automatically. And then the two just maneuver to touch each other. And we only just solved that in the last launch.

Found it via:
Fairing Recovery Compendium – ElonX.net

 

[HankLloydRight]

Link: Extended transcript: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on putting boots on the moon and Mars



Found it via:
Fairing Recovery Compendium – ElonX.net

Wow, thank you so much! Answers every question I had, and dozens I didn't even know I had!

This "Fairing Re-entry Cam" is remarkable!