Although reusable rockets have been the subject of several of our posts, we last wrote about them in any great detail in April 2023. Since then, the industry has changed significantly, and we’ve had plenty of demonstrations of the potential of reusable rockets.
So, what has happened in the last year, and have these developments changed our perspective of the benefits and potential drawbacks of this technology?
Since April 2023, things have moved quickly. SpaceX is probably the best company to look at, as it’s established itself as a renowned contractor and launch vehicle provider. In March 2024, SpaceX’s Starship reached its intended orbital velocity for the first time. Considering it’s the largest rocket ever built, this was a major milestone.
Another big deal for SpaceX was the 20th use of its Falcon 9 booster in April 2024. In June 2024, it launched two rockets on the same day, one of which flew for the 11th time. Both launches were to put more Starlink satellites into orbit, and both re-entered orbit successfully.
Of course, SpaceX isn’t the only reusable rocket company. Other major players such as Blue Origin, Relativity Space, Rocket Lab and others are still developing their reusable rockets and, while closer to launch, are currently being drastically outpaced by SpaceX.
Elsewhere, we’ve seen advances in smaller reusable rockets from several companies. There are companies such as Sidereus Space Dynamics, which are still fairly early in their development cycle. Similarly, Maia Space has been developing a reusable launch vehicle capable of delivering 3-tonne payloads into LEO. These smaller rockets point to the potential of ubiquity of the technology.
Only a year ago, we pointed to the potential downsides of reusable rockets, primarily their reduced payload capability. The short answer is yes, and no. SpaceX’s Starship, for example, will have a payload size of 150t, and Falcon 9 has a payload of 8.3-22.8t depending on orbit.
Although Starship has yet to enter service, its significant payload capacity will make a big difference to the potential and flexibility of reusable rockets. As we stated before, a major part of this smaller payload is the extra hardware needed to land the rocket back on Earth. However, as technology advances, we’ll likely see this become far less of an issue.
But it’s fair to say that these fairly minor drawbacks are outweighed by the clear benefits of reusable rockets. It’s difficult to truly gauge the impact reusable rockets will have for now, though, because there’s only one company currently operating. As such, the industry is essentially dominated by SpaceX’s missions and contracts, although this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
What it means is that the reusable rocket industry could take a different shape than what we’re currently seeing once a few other companies enter the market. A good comparison is perhaps the civil drone market, which is now very well established.
A single drone company is obviously going to have a captured market but, by extension, all drones would be the same design. However, as more companies entered the market, we saw all kinds of variations and developments on the basic drone design.
We’ll likely see the same thing happen with the reusable rocket industry. Once a few more models enter the market, both as direct competitors to SpaceX and smaller microsat launchers, it’s inevitable that we’ll see an exponential boom in the technology. Check back in another year to see where we’re at!
