The failed landing was the first time in about a year that SpaceX lost one of its Falcon 9 rocket amplifiers, which the company became accustomed to landing and reusing to save money.
The rounded-up booster landing had no bearing on the overall success of the mission, which delivered 60 satellites in orbit for the upcoming Starlink Internet business. SpaceX’s primary mission to put its 60 Starlink satellites into orbit on Monday raised the Internet constellation to nearly 1,100 satellites. About 10,000 beta testers already use an early version of the service for $ 99 a month, and most of them have given excellent comments in online forums.
It is not clear why the booster did not reach its target. During webcasts of one of the launches, SpaceX usually shows that it sends boosters to a landing strip and shoots their engines to slow down their descent for an exact landing. But on Monday, SpaceX broadcast footage from an empty platform with some quirky birds hanging around and no rocket in sight. “It does look like we did not get a booster … It’s a shame,” said SpaceX engineer Jessica Anderson as she hosted Monday’s webcast.
The first phase booster is the largest and most expensive part of the rocket. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, said the booster in the first phase represents about 60% of the cost of building a new Falcon 9 rocket, which the company advertises as a $ 62 million launch vehicle . SpaceX’s efforts to reuse the amplifiers have distinguished the company from competitors around the world, most of whom are willing to have rocket amplifiers sink to a watery grave after their fuel has been used.
SpaceX envisages Starlink will drastically change the way consumers, especially in rural areas, access the internet. But whether Starlink will become a sustainable business remains to be seen. Musk noted in a tweet last week that the company “must go through a deep gulf of negative cash flow over the next year or so to make Starlink financially viable.”