The stage of an innovative spacecraft, which delivered a scientific satellite to orbit, made a hard landing on a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean.
The head of the US company SpaceX has posted in the official Twitter account of the organization a message stating that the missile carrier failed to land due to a malfunction in the landing system.
He added an optimistic comment to the post. According to him, this time the part of the spacecraft that made a hard landing looks much more promising than the last. According to experts, one of the rocket carrier backup could not open at the right moment.
The main idea of SpaceX is the production and popularization of launch vehicles that can be used several times. This will reduce the substantial material costs of launching spacecraft.
Representatives of the company are waiting for the approval of the project by the US government. If successful, SpaceX will be able to return their missiles directly to land - to the Vandenberg base. The use of this practice will reduce the cost of starting another several times.
SpaceX was able to send a Jason-3 science device to orbit. With the help of this satellite, research organizations from the USA and Europe will monitor the level of the world ocean. Such measurements are the most productive way to monitor climate change on the planet. Josh Wils, an oceanographer at NASA's Pasadena, California, research center, said the sea level is irreversibly increasing with the process of absorbing solar heat.
Another factor that leads to a change in this level is the rapid melting of ice and glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic.
By analyzing these two negative factors that lead to an increase in world ocean level, scientists will be able to proceed to a thorough study of the negative impact of man on nature. In particular, the change in the global climate situation.
Already several such devices have been launched into orbit. Jason-3 is the fourth device from the climate change tracking program. The previous project of the organization is called El Nino. He monitors the formation of tsunamis and the appearance of oil stains in the ocean.
