Critical Analysis of SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.2 Launcher and Missions

Kurzfassung

SpaceX currently is advancing to a major player in the worldwide launcher market with the Falcon 9. This launcher is capable of doing a propulsive, vertical landing with its own engines on land (RTLS) or on droneships (ASDS). The recovered stages shall be reused several times to lower the launch costs and thus the costs of the access to space. As of June 2017 SpaceX managed to launch an already flown booster for the first time (SES-10) and has advanced in making the landings of the Falcon 9 boosters more reliable. This report focuses on the recent developments at SpaceX and analyses the latest missions at SpaceX to gather a better understanding of their method of reusability and its impact on a technical, economical and operational level.