March is going to be a crunch month for SpaceX: it hopes to, for the first time ever, launch a commercial satellite into orbit using a previously used rocket.
One of the Falcon 9 boosters Elon Musk's upstart has successfully blasted off and landed has been extensively refurbished for the mission. SpaceX's president Gwynne Shotwell confirmed to the Satellite 2017
conference on Wednesday that a reused Falcon 9 will loft a communications bird from satellite operator SES some time in the next three weeks.
Crucially, that Falcon 9 has to return back to Earth in one piece so it can be reused again and again for other payloads.
Usually you have to take SpaceX timeline predictions with a pinch of salt. After all, Musk
promised the first reused rocket would take to the skies by June 2016. That date slipped, as did the subsequent
predicted launch date of the end of last year.
However people familiar with the matter have told
The Reg that the March date really is firm and SpaceX is ready to rock the orbital delivery market – assuming the launch is successful. If it isn't, it'll be a major kick in the nuts to SpaceX's ambitions to make it much cheaper to get off the planet.
