Space travel involves millions of dollars (or another currency with a higher international value than the Kwanza), dedication, scientific knowledge and persistence. This has been the formula used by Elon Musk , the billionaire owner of Space X, which has been working to simplify space travel.
If you are not very connected to the topic "space travel", we will make a super basic summary about this process:
- We need to send the cargo (whether satellites or astronauts) out of the Earth's atmosphere.
- For this it is necessary an engine with propulsion sufficient to overcome the gravity (in this case a rocket is used, see the image above).
- After overcoming the Earth's atmosphere, the charge can be deposited in Earth's orbit.
- After this charge is successfully sent, the rocket returns to Earth and will be permanently unusable (millions and millions of dollars unused, in the ocean floor most of the time).
On December 21, 2015, for the first time, a rocket managed to launch a charge into space and land intact on terrestrial ground. The feat was achieved by the Space X team. As if that were not enough, the company's “boss” came to inform that this same rocket is now ready to be reused.
It was on New Year's Eve that SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced on Twitter that the rocket F that was carrying a payload of satellites into orbit last month and then landed safely was free from damage and “ready to shoot again. "
Falcon 9 back in the hangar at Cape Canaveral. No damage found, ready to fire again. https://t.co/7w6IfJGtXM
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 1, 2016
This is a step that will make space travel cheaper. It will not be long before trips to the Moon are treated as if we are leaving Angola for China. Wait (a few more decades).
See here the launch and landing of Falcon 9.
Congratulations to the Space X team.
