Space exploration is a very expensive business. In the past, the United States spent a lot of money to land on the Moon before the former Soviet Union. It was possible because, at the time, the conflict and confrontation between the democratic and communist worlds were in full swing. Even then, however, some voiced criticism that they should spend the money to help the poor.

Things changed once the space race was over. They could not spend as much money as they used to. Originally, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) planned to continue new goals, such as space stations and sending human travelers to Mars, after the Moon landing. Due to budget shortages, however, several plans had to be canceled.

The only plan that survived was the space shuttle plan. The space shuttle was a spacecraft that could be recycled many times. After performing its mission in space, the space shuttle landed on the Earth again using its wings. NASA could save costs as the expensive parts were recovered and reused. The space shuttle was to be used as inexpensive transportation to move people and supplies between Earth's orbit and a space station.

Launched for its first mission in 1983, the space shuttle was retired after completing a variety of missions over nearly 30 years. There were different reasons, but it was mostly because reusing the space shuttle was not as cheap as they had thought. It was a huge, complex and sophisticated machine, requiring costly maintenance before every take-off.

While the space shuttle program in which recycling was attempted has ended, efforts to reduce space development costs and waste are being made in other forms. One of them is reusable rockets, which literally means using rockets again. In the past, rockets were disposable. It was impossible to recover and reuse a rocket once used. Small rockets could be retrieved using a parachute, but large ones were not retrievable.

It was the rocket Falcon 9 manufactured by American aerospace company SpaceX that demonstrated that a rocket could be landed upright and be recycled. Launched in 2015, the Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed the first stage after completing its mission to launch a low-orbit satellite. Since then, SpaceX has reused the rocket more than 100 times to put satellites into space.

(▲Image by: Wikimediacommons)

It is very difficult to have a rocket take off vertically, touch down upright, and then fire up the engine again and land vertically on the ground. As it falls through the air, the rocket must use its wings and jets to turn and maintain its center of gravity. Even the slightest miscalculation can cause it to fall and burst into flames. In fact, SpaceX also went through several failures before its historic success.

Reusing rockets saves resources and costs as there is no need to create new rockets each time. With lower costs, space development can be further advanced. Compared to the cost of launching a now-retired space shuttle, launching the SpaceX Falcon rocket today costs only one-tenth.

Many institutions are planning to minimize their use of resources and cost by reusing rockets. Some recover only the core component, the engine, rather than reusing the entire rocket. After launch, only the engine is disconnected to let it slowly fall to the ground using a parachute. Although fewer parts are reused, it can save fuel for landing.

Making rocket parts with a 3D printer is another way to reduce costs. Fuel consumption can also be lowered if lightweight materials, such as carbon fiber, are used. Rockets use a lot of fuel to overcome Earth's gravity and emit large amounts of carbon dioxide during the process. The amount of carbon dioxide released in one launch of Falcon 9 was equivalent to the amount released in 360 Boeing 747 planes crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Reducing the weight of rockets also helps protect the global environment.

Space development will only grow in the future, and we should keep in mind how such human activities will affect our planet. Recycling and eco-friendly technologies should be more advanced for space development so that we can cleanly preserve the Earth’s environment while further exploring space.