Will the American Military Remain Unmoved by Rocket Recovery Technology?

Whether or not SpaceX’s rocket recovery technology will be rapidly adopted by the U.S. military is still an open question. However, it should be said that a fusion of the military and civilian sectors has long been a staple of U.S. military development, with the core technologies of many large companies already having been adopted by the military.

It can be said that April 9, 2016 was a great day for those with a dream for space travel, as their vision took another step toward becoming reality. On the morning of April 9 (Beijing time), a special passenger touched down on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Atlantic Ocean. As this rocket — part of the "Falcon 9" series launched by the space exploration company SpaceX — made its vertical approach to the drone ship and managed to successfully land on the ship’s center with minimal deviation, mankind’s goal of rocket retrieval on the high seas had come to fruition.

For SpaceX, making rocket retrieval a reality not only swept aside the doubts from their four previous failures, it also struck back at long-time skeptics of this technology, making them aware that humanity’s dream of low-cost space travel is possible after all.

At present, it is still too early to estimate the cost reductions that accurate positioning of seaborne retrieval will bring. Numerous organizations and experts have put forward preliminary estimates. Looking at the results, we can see that given the cost of rocket fuel being less than $1 million, the cost of maintenance after retrieval being around $3 million, and the cost of relaunching a rocket being reduced by around 30 percent, overall costs may drop down from the present $60 million to about $40 million. These numbers are only based on rough estimates made using present technology. Following the maturation of this technology, the cost of a launch will be reduced by around 80 percent. In the end this will lift up the common man’s dream of space travel, which is certainly not just a dream anymore. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this successfully retrieved rocket will be launched again before long. This will be the first time in the existence of mankind that we will succeed in retrieving and relaunching a liquid propellant rocket after it has been previously launched into space. Rocket enthusiasts may now daydream about the lively sights that will make up such an era.

Undoubtedly, the value of seaborne rocket retrieval technology is not just limited to reducing the costs of space launches. When something raises a ruckus, it is even more important to look into the reasons for this. Seaborne rocket retrieval brings together all of the most advanced technologies in our world today into one body of wisdom. This enterprise involves aerodynamics, systems engineering, materials science, ergonomics and project management, in addition to a multitude of other scientific disciplines. It is capable of affecting and driving multiple fields within the military and economic sectors. In the unusual environment of the high seas, figuring out how to control the descent of a long and thin rocket so as to land it precisely within a 10 meter circle while smoothly adjusting the propulsion system is very complex. These kinds of problems test the comprehensive technological standards of a rocket-launching company.

As a privately run company with no military background, it remains to be seen whether or not the technologies tested in SpaceX’s rocket retrieval experiment, such as accurate positioning, motion control, early warning oversight, composite materials and command control will see rapid adoption by the U.S. military sector. Nonetheless, we all know that the intermingling of the private sector and the military is the classic nature and principal trend in the development of the American military. The well-known companies of IBM, Cisco, Apple and other big name companies have already had a portion of their core technologies used by the military. Additionally, as many military enthusiasts know, the U.S. has fallen ill with a serious case of “technology-worship fever,” hoping to research a new technology at the right time that changes the rules of the game, leaving their rivals in the dust and allowing it to preserve its leading position. This has long been a fundamental strategy of the United States. It is for this reason that I find it hard to imagine that the U.S. military will remain unmoved by SpaceX’s key technologies.

Leaving aside the question of whether SpaceX’s core technology can be used in the U.S. military sector, as a private company in pursuit of economic benefits the possibility that most of SpaceX’s technologies have applications in the private sector is not in great doubt. At the same time that space travel enthusiasts are captivated by dreams of traveling among the stars, touring the moon and setting up camp on Mars, it is necessary to think about how highly accurate positioning and incredibly perceptive reconnaissance and surveillance technology could leave us mercilessly in a state of transparency. At that time, we will all become transparent people, with nary a degree of privacy among us. Naturally, the success of a single experiment does not mean that the technology has truly matured. The road to realizing these goals may be longer yet, but we must quickly pay careful attention to the development trends opened up by this event.