Reusability of Rocket Regulations

Not just anyone can build and launch a rocket whenever and where ever they want.
To be able to utilize a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) or rocket in space, you will need to attain a license first by passing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval. In the Office of Commercial Space Transportation Regulations, the FAA outlines the safety tests and inspection needed to be able to legally use an RLV in section 431 "Launch and Reentry of a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)." The FAA needs to know the flight path, location, and dates of launch of the RLV to be able to determine the safety of the flight. Also the FAA would need to be informed of the cargo/payload on the vehicle as well as any emergency procedures.
Here is the link to the SpaceX permits and approval to use their Falcon 9 and Falcon heavy rockets
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/environmental/nepa_docs/review/documents_progress/spacex_texas_launch_site_environmental_impact_statement/media/spacex_eis_rod.pdf
It illustrates the need to go through the government, the amount of safety measures needed to protect the company, the government and everyone in the world in general.

This is the FAA description of the launch site of SpaceX Falcon rockets and their permissible flight zones and the effects it will have on the surrounding environment. The FAA works with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and others to determine if the RLV would be fit to be launched and not detrimentally affect the Earth.
In all, the FAA regulates every space agency to make sure that they follow environmental regulations and stay within their allowed locations.



http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=e11cee34fe5087a8cba8d252ec7327b3&rgn=div5&view=text&node=14:4.0.2.9.14&idno=14

The Next Step

The public sector of space flight is the government funded National Air and Space Administration (NASA) that is currently working on developing a new wave of spacecrafts and rocket technology. In the peer-review article To Low Earth Orbit and Beyond by Mckee describes the future of space travel after the NASA space shuttles retired in 2011 without having to rely on Russia to ship cargo and transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The future depends on the new space craft Orion that would be able to carry astronauts to lunar orbit much like Apollo craft except this would be more spacious and able to keep four astronauts on board for 21 days. Here is a diagram breaking apart the Orion spacecraft found on the NASA website.

Orion is designed to be paired with additional modules that would be created one day to bring future explorers to Mars and beyond. The major problem with sending Orion to the Moon and further is the return velocity once hitting the Earth's atmosphere is greater than any other manned spacecraft had to endure. Testing will be conducted to make sure the newly developed 5 centimeter thick poxy heat shield would be able to withstand the highest temperature upwards of 2200 degrees Celsius and also to launch the parachutes that would slow Orion down to splash gently onto the water. Hopefully soon it will be able to take astronauts and scientists to the stars and back.








Mckee, M. (January 2014). To Low Earth Orbit and Beyond. Spectrum IEE. 51, 58-59.  http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.mutex.gmu.edu/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6701435&tag=1

Elon Musk

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and a revolutionary in the field of commercial space flight, was born in South Africa and grew up teaching himself how to program and sold his first computer game at the age of 12 called Blaster. He moved to Canada to attend Queen's University and later attended University of Pennsylvania to study business and physics. He dropped out of attaining Ph.D in energy physics at Stanford University to pursue the Internet boom in the mid-nineties. From there, launching his career in business from Zip2 Corporation to Paypal and every enterprise funding the next. In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX and in 2008 NASA awarded him with a contract to ship cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). Thus, in 2012 Musk successfully launched the first commercially owned space craft to the ISS proving that privately owned companies could succeed in space exploration.

Now Elon Musk is developing reusable rockets to be able to send cargo safely and cheaply. The video describes the plan for the development of Falcon Heavy which is a three core rocket designed to launch geostationary satellites as well as carry large loads to the ISS. Here is the link to a detailed animation of the rocket and its design http://www.spacex.com/falcon-heavy.

Elon Musk. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 09:52, Apr 29, 2015, fromhttp://www.biography.com/people/elon-musk-20837159.

Grondin, Yves-A. Musk Lays Out the Plans for Reusability of the Falcon 9 Rocket. (October 3, 2013). Retrieved 11:12, Apr 29, 2015, from http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/10/musk-plans-reusability-falcon-9-rocket/

Who is Designing the Future Today

In the previous blog post, the company SpaceX was mentioned as a prevalent researcher in the quest to make reusable rockets with the design of Falcon 9 used to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) launching the Dragon (the cargo vessel) as seen pictured here to the left. The Falcon 9 rocket was designed to be able to land after launch instead of just recyclable and land in the water or salvaged for parts after parachuting down. The Falcon 9 was launched on April 15 2015 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, USA. It was the third attempt of the Falcon 9 rocket design with the first two having near misses, the second attempt in January landed on land hard causing damage to the interior so it wasn't a success. 

The third and most recent attempt was landing the Falcon 9 on a drone ship barge so as to minimize the risk and increase control over the area targeted to land on. The Falcon 9 was launched without any hiccups and released the Dragon towards the ISS after performing perfectly on the way up. It descended towards the barge in control but at the last second after it had deployed its landing legs the throttle valve response was detected to be slower than usual according to Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX. 

It is hypothesized that this is what caused the rocket its instability and it was not able to recover using the Altitude Control Thrust System in time for an upright landing. Instead it crashed onto the barge taking it with it in a fiery blaze. Also according to Elon Musk the "excess lateral velocity caused it to tip over" and not land on the ship as planned. 

Although this was not a successful, SpaceX has been the closest agency so far to create a predictable reliable rocket that could be reused and relaunched without as much cost to the company or the environment. Sustainability is the key to furthering space exploration and hopefully SpaceX can continue leading the way.





















Bergin, Chris.(April 19, 2015).  Fine-tuning Falcon 9 Landing Focuses on Throttle Valve Response. NASA Space Flight. 
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/04/fine-tuning-falcon-9-landing-throttle-valve-response/
Liftoff: Falcon 9 and Dragon Begin CRS-6 Mission to Resupply the Space Station, April 14. 2015. http://www.spacex.com/news/2015/04/14/liftoff-falcon-9-and-dragon-begin-crs-6-mission-resupply-international-space-station
 Mills, Kyle. (April 19, 2015). SpaceX Explained Falcon 9 Landing Failure. 
http://www.thesilverink.com/spacex-explained-the-falcon-9-landing-failure/22498/

Reusability and Space Exploration

In the advancement of space travel, the most essential factor is the way of travel and its reusability in the long term.  In space exploration history, spacecrafts have not been able to become fully reusable and recyclable and most importantly the rockets that power the craft are unusable after one use and have to replace every time. This fact has held the research and space exploration back from advancing at a fast pace as it should be in the sixty plus years since the moon landing. The creation of reusable rockets to attach to the space crafts and be able to contain and withstand extreme heat while in use would be the greatest progress since the development of the Apollo lunar module or the International Space Station (ISS).  The Space Race during the Cold War was the main motivator for creating and designing more advanced rockets that could achieve high altitudes for long periods of time  (Benson 2014) and in the late 1950s the US government created the National Aeronautic and Space Administration for the very purpose of advancing space exploration. One main contributor in the research for rocket reusability is Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla. He is currently conducting testing on Falcon 9 rockets to determine if it is feasible to reuse the rockets that supply the International Space Station (ISS). Here is a clip from April 14 2015, the third attempt to land a reusable rocket on a drone barge ship. 

The excess lateral velocity caused the rocket to tip and hit the barge with too much force thus failing an otherwise very successful attempt for SpaceX. The need for reusability in space programs would also open up the possibility of space tourism since it would make the flight to and back from space much more sustainable. Lepore states that the efforts of providing space agencies access to space tourism will spur exploration and provide them an easy access to funding from the public not just governmental and private funds. The creation of reusable rockets will create an increase in money gain for research and space exploration, the perfect solution to the lack of progress in space agencies today.

References

Benson, T. (2014, June 12). Brief History of Rockets. Retrieved April 3, 2015, from

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/TRC/Rockets/history_of_rockets.html

Lepore, D. (2004). Access to Space for Exploration Missions Using reusable Launch Vehicles. International Academy of Astronautics. October

Liftoff: Falcon 9 and Dragon Begin CRS-6 Mission to Resupply the Space Station, April 14. 2015. http://www.spacex.com/news/2015/04/14/liftoff-falcon-9-and-dragon-begin-crs-6-mission-resupply-international-space-station