London: An American space transport company is designing the world’s first reusable rocket - relying on launch stages that ‘ease’ themselves back to Earth with boosters, rather than falling away and burning up.
Even the manned module on top will have no chute - relying on a ‘controlled’ descent using boosters, the Daily Mail reported.
Space X founder Elon Musk said his company was working on a new version of its Falcon 9 rocket, which could cut by 100-fold the cost of trips into space and could even lead to a vehicle capable of making a return trip to Mars.
The new rocket would consist of Merlin rocket stages that would pilot themselves back to the launch pad, plus a new version of Space X’s ‘Dragon’ module that would also use no ‘chute’.
The SpaceX plan is that both of the rocket’s stages would return to the launch site and touch down vertically under rocket power after delivering a spacecraft to orbit.
ANI
