How many times can Falcon 9 be reused?
By: Joshua Potts
Tags: Engineering, Spacex, Space, Space Exploration, Elon Musk

Falcon 9 is SpaceX’s flagship operating rocket, and with just two decades of development and testing history, it includes engineering features that most other launch systems of its kind lack. This two-stage, medium payload lift vehicle is almost 100% reusable. As it stands, the Falcon 9 is one of the most resource efficient and eco-friendly space launch systems ever built. In this video we’ll discover why it is so reusable, and how it was designed to be so advanced.

Falcon 9, its name inspired by the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars, stands at a height of over one hundred and fifty feet tall and takes the trophy for the first ever rocket designed entirely in the 21st century. SpaceX first announced Falcon 9 in the early 2000s, placing it before NASA’s popular Space Launch System (SLS), which secured government funding in 2011. Cutting edge technology, as well as a nearly flawless mission success rate, have made the Falcon 9 the best choice of rocket for most commercial customers as well as many government funded missions.

Powered by SpaceX’s crown jewel Merlin engines, nine on the first stage and one after stage separation, the Falcon 9 runs on the combustion of cryogenic liquid oxygen and rocket grade kerosene, a cheaper fuel than hydrogen but generally prone to polymerization under high temperatures. The launch system features an advanced design built for maximum reliability and reusability. With just two stages, the number of negative incidents occurring on separation is significantly reduced, and Falcon 9 can still complete its mission if a couple of its engines fail.

According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, many parts of the Falcon 9 can be reused up to a hundred times, with more delicate parts like heat shields able to withstand about ten launches before they wear down and become ineffective. This reusability aspect has made Falcon 9 very popular amongst its customers and given it a cutting edge advantage over more polluting, wasteful rockets. Since the stages of the rocket can be reassembled and prepared for another launch, the overall cost of a launch is substantially reduced.

The tank walls of the rocket are composed of an aluminium lithium alloy, and the body is constructed through a popular friction stir welding technique giving it remarkable strength and vibration resistance, so that the stages land back on Earth in the finest possible conditions. Once the engines on the initial stage cutoff, separation doesn’t occur until all systems are fully operational and the correct trajectory for booster touchdown is acquired. Once the flight computer has Go for stage separation, its pneumatic detachment mechanism kicks in. This section is composed of an aluminium honeycomb core and carbon fibre sheets, making it flexible and resilient, and the decision to use a pneumatic system instead of pyrotechnic fasteners for stage separation means the boosters can be detached very lightly, improving the chances of a successful touchdown.

Falcon 9’s second stage is a smaller version of the first tank and uses almost identical materials and manufacturing techniques. This means that Falcon 9 pieces can be bulk produced, making it more cost effective.

Of the world’s current launch vehicles, 75% of rockets failed in their first three launches. Falcon 9’s first launches were complete successes, and it has only had two mission failures across a total of nearly two hundred flights. SpaceX uses an uncommon method for releasing the rocket upon launch. Unlike conventional rockets, Falcon 9 is only released once engine burn is confirmed to be safe and all systems are functional. The engines can be automatically shut down and the propellant rapidly unloaded if there is any kind of malfunction on the launchpad, so that even if a flight would result in a failure, it is cancelled before it can do damage. This is a systems configuration often used on commercial aircraft but rarely on space rockets.

All this, developed from a blank sheet to a first launch in just over four years between 2005 and 2010, for less than three hundred million dollars. Reusability actually makes Falcon 9 much more reliable than its competitors, and prevents tragic accidents like the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion and Apollo 1 fire. Because most crucial parts of the rocket have been thoroughly tested and achieved good performance in flight already, they’re more reliable in successive flights.

The reused boosters have an edge over new ones because they’ve been flown and proven before, and are also therefore cheaper. Naturally, reusability and reliability means that SpaceX can launch many flights back to back to deliver payloads to orbit without having to extensively refurbish parts or build new launch vehicles. Overall this makes SpaceX’s Falcon 9 practically the best choice for payload delivery for most government and commercial applications, since it is so safe, reliable and cost efficient. Hence why it is so great for launching Starlink satellites into orbit, because many payloads can be deposited very fast and at an affordable price. Over the past few years the Falcon 9 has played a crucial role in making SpaceX CEO Elon Musk the richest man in the world, and the most significant independent figure in the space industry.