spacex-falcon9-stage-one

art SpaceX Falcon 9 landing burn

This piece depicts a Falcon 9 booster in the final stages of its landing burn. The landing legs have been unlatched and are beginning to deploy, the pistons pushing the legs out against the airstream. At the top of the booster, the interstage-mounted grid fins continue to pivot to keep the booster pointed towards the landing pad. Now that the single Merlin 1D engine in the center of the octaweb has slowed the booster down to a near-standstill, the turbopump exhaust flame mostly burns down instead of wrapping around the octaweb and up the side. Read more (3 min)

article A Brief Recap of Reusable Rockets

In the decades since the first rockets flew, the only launch vehicle capable of any kind of reuse was the Space Shuttle, which required in-depth inspection and refurbishment after each flight. Meanwhile, SpaceX and Blue Origin, among others, are revolutionizing the space launch industry and building rockets that can – and have – been reused. What's changed, and why is reusability coming back?

art SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster Landing on OCISLY

My rendition of a Falcon 9 booster landing on Of Course I Still Love You, SpaceX’s East coast droneship. This is a triple-engine landing burn; while SpaceX hasn’t performed a triple-engine landing burn since JCSAT-16, very heavy GTO payloads at the edge of Falcon 9’s capability may require triple-engine landing burns in the future.

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art SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster Glide

My rendition of a Falcon 9 booster returning to Earth after a launch. The four grid fins are guiding it towards its landing pad as it hurtles downwards at supersonic velocities.

In this image, the Falcon 9 is at about 40km in altitude (with entry burn shutdown having occured seconds earlier) and is less than thirty seconds from the start of the landing burn.

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infographic SpaceX Falcon 9 Hawthorne to Launch SpaceX Falcon 9 Hawthorne to Launch Direct link

This infographic outlines the manufacturing and testing procedures for the SpaceX Falcon 9.

infographic SpaceX Falcon 9 Downrange Propulsive Landing (No Boostback) SpaceX Falcon 9 Downrange Propulsive Landing (No Boostback) Direct link

This is the approximate trajectory of the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster during a downrange propulsive landing (i.e. ocean landing) on the ASDS.

Note that this is the trajectory of a booster during a high-performance mission, and does not include a boostback burn. The approximate trajectory of a Falcon 9 landing with a boostback burn can be seen here.

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infographic SpaceX Falcon 9 Transport SpaceX Falcon 9 Transport Direct link

The SpaceX Falcon 9 is designed to fit on public roads in the US. Here’s how SpaceX transports the different components.

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infographic SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster Hoverslam SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster Hoverslam Direct link

This is a high-level, overly simplified explanation of the “hoverslam” maneuver the SpaceX Falcon 9 performs during landing.

infographic SpaceX Falcon 9 Components SpaceX Falcon 9 Components Direct link

This is a brief overview of the components of the SpaceX Falcon 9 in its fairing configuration (as opposed to the Dragon 1 or Dragon 2 configurations.)

infographic SpaceX Falcon 9 Return to Launch Site SpaceX Falcon 9 Return to Launch Site Direct link

This is the approximate trajectory of the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster during a “return to launch site” landing (i.e. landing on land).

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