While talking about SpaceX, I wanted to post this one too.. just recently SpaceX launched a used rocket. This is a huge step for SpaceX and for space exploration in general. Why? Because normally, rockets are far too damaged to use again after they've been launched, and being able to use them again will cut down on costs so much!
The rocket, which is one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 spacecraft, had been previously launched in January 2017, when it sent a group of 10 satellites into orbit. That mission was sent from (and also returned to) the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
A part of that rocket was brought to the Kennedy space center in Florida. Falcon 9 put the Bulgarian communications satellite into orbit there. It is said that the satellite went into a pretty high orbit which then in turn caused the rocket booster to generate much heat, making the landing more difficult than usual.
Elon Musk himself had doubts about it would be possible to re-use the rocket, but sure enough, it was.
There is history being written here, and there are major breakthroughs being made by SpaceX, making space exploration and possible colonization a heck of a lot more realistic.
More realistic and less expensive! The expense, in my mind, is the worst part when it comes to colonizing space. And because launch costs are about the worst of it, I think it's a good thing that Elon Musk is working on reusable rockets. Another thing I'd like to see is a ramping up in space-based industrial capacity. If we can mine more raw materials and build more space hardware in outer space, then we can do away with launch costs altogether and save money that way. And it can be done; they say that an "average-sized" asteroid could contain $1 trillion or more in the raw materials needed for building hardware for use in outer space.
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