The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was launched successfully yesterday from Vandenberg Air Force Station in California. The rocket, built by the commercial space company SpaceX, has a lot of new features making it one of the most advanced of its kind.
The Canadian Space Agencies CASSIOPE satellite sits on top of the rocket itself. The whole goal of the rocket launch is in order to better understand the workings of weather and climate changes in space.
By gathering this vital information, experts are able to find out the specific impact that cosmic and solar radiation has on Earth. The SpaceX rocket launch is a big deal in commercial terms as well as this is the first satellite to the company has launched with the Falcon 9 .
The Falcon 9 has a lot upgraded features. Its engines are more than 50% more powerful than its predecessor, and all the engines are specially designed so that if one fails the others aren’t affected.
The hope of the creators of the Falcon 9 is that in time it will be designed as a reusable rocket which will save the company huge amounts of money. Reusable rockets are able to launch and then return to earth with a controlled burn.
During Sunday’s SpaceX rocket launch a lot of new data was gathered and various features tested to make the Falcon 9 reusable. Elon Musk, CEO of the company said in a Tweet: “Between this flight & Grasshopper tests, I think we now have all the pieces of the puzzle to bring the rocket back home .”
It remains to be seen exactly what upgrades the company will carry out in order to take the launching of satellites into Space to the next level.
