March 30, 2017

SpaceX set to launch its first recycled rocket

by Marcia Dunn

This photo made available by SpaceX on Thursday, March 30, 2017 shows the company's Falcon 9 rocket on Kennedy Space Center's historic Pad 39A in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Its launch, scheduled for Thursday will be the first time SpaceX launches one of its reused boosters. (SpaceX via AP)

SpaceX is about to launch its first recycled rocket.

The Falcon 9 rocket is on the pad at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, poised for a Thursday evening liftoff. It's the first time SpaceX founder Elon Musk has tried to fly a salvaged booster. The first stage landed on an ocean platform almost a year ago after a launch for NASA.

SpaceX refurbished and tested the booster, which still has its original engines. It'll aim for another sea landing once it hoists a broadcasting satellite for the SES (S-E-S) company of Luxembourg.

Longtime customer SES is getting a discount for agreeing to use a recycled rocket, but won't say how much. Martin Halliwell of SES calls it a "big step" for everyone.

SpaceX looks to save time and money through recycling.

SpaceX set to launch its first recycled rocket

China sends a probe to get samples from the less-explored far side of the moon

Intercropping viable for optimizing vegetable production on Mars

Horizontal running could help lunar astronauts retain physical conditioning

Japan's moon lander wasn't built to survive a weekslong lunar night. It's still going after 3

NASA's Voyager 1 resumes sending engineering updates to Earth

Simulated microgravity affects sleep and physiological rhythms, study finds

'Tube map' around planets and moons made possible by knot theory

Astronomers inspect population of young stellar objects in open cluster NGC 346

The BREAD Collaboration is searching for dark photons using a coaxial dish antenna

Research quantifies 'gap' in carbon removal for first time—shows countries need more awareness, ambition and action

Research shows bumblebee nests are overheating due to climate change, threatening future populations

Study finds human noise negatively impacts cricket survival and reproduction

New eco-friendly lubricant additives protect turbine equipment, waterways

Nanotubes, nanoparticles and antibodies detect tiny amounts of fentanyl

Bigger brains allow cliff-nesting seagull species to survive and thrive in urban environments

Oil palm plantations are driving massive downstream impact to watershed

Centipedes used in traditional Chinese medicine offer leads for kidney treatment

Physicists arrange atoms in close proximity, paving way for exploring exotic states of matter