WASHINGTON: SpaceX and satellite operator SES have agreed to launch a commercial satellite later this year by reusing a Falcon 9 rocket, the companies announced Tuesday.
The launch of SES-10, which will be the first satellite sent into space on a SpaceX flight-proven rocket, was scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2016.
Terms of the deal were not announced. Officials with California-based SpaceX, headed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, had previously indicated that reusing rockets could cut launch costs by 30 percent.
The billionaire said in April that it costs around $300,000 to fuel a rocket, but $60 million to build one.
Musk wants to revolutionize the launch industry by making rocket components reusable, much the same way as commercial airplanes.
Currently, expensive rocket parts are jettisoned into the ocean after each launch.
“Re-launching a rocket that has already delivered spacecraft to orbit is an important milestone on the path to complete and rapid reusability,” Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said in a statement.
