Falcon9v2

The Falcon 9 version 2 (or V1.2) is an enlarged and upgraded version of the Falcon9 V 1.1

The goal of the new Falcon 9 version is to allow the 1st stage to be recovered for reuse even if the payload has to get to Geo-stationary orbit of 23,000 miles.

The version 1.1 was unable to lift satellites into geo-orbit as well as the landing of the 1st stage.

Elon Musk tweet "Upgrades in the works to allow landing for geo missions: thrust +15%, deep cryo oxygen, upper stage tank vol +10%"

The extra trust(delta V) is to be gained by using colder storage of the liquid Oxygen and increasing the size of the second stage by 10%, This will allow for an earlier 1st stage separation and therefore enough fuel left in the 1st stage to enable it to land.

Elon Musk said “deeply cryogenic propellant,” or chilling liquid oxygen to near its freezing point to increase its density and improve rocket performance. Liquid oxygen typically is loaded into rocket tanks at a frosty minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit. Musk said SpaceX was chilling it to minus 340 degrees F.

First time anyone has gone this low for O2,”.

SpaceX has successfully fuelled a rocket that way when it tested the rocket engines at a facility in McGregor, Texas.

The height of the new V1.2 now stands at 230-foot (70 meters) tall—five feet taller than before, including a longer upper stage that can hold more propellant, higher thrust and improved systems for separating the stages, As well as more fuel the engines have been upgrade so the Falcon 9 can now generate up to 1.7 million pounds (7.5 meganewtons) of thrust, about 200,000 pounds more thrust than before, equivalent to adding another engine’s worth of power (the rocket runs on 9 Merlin engines).

Falcon 9 Version 1.2

The First test of the F9 V1.2 is due to take off as it passed a Static Fire test before Launch on 21th December from its pad at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This was also the return to flight after a second stage fault in a strut caused the loss of the F9 V1.1 rocket in June 2015.

The Static Fire Test for the F9 V1.2

The mission launched 11 commercial communications satellites into low Earth orbit for Orbcomm Inc.

History was made as the FAA have given permission for SpaceX to attempt to land the first stage onto dry land at their Landing Pad at CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

All the other attempts SpaceX have tried to land have so far been to a barge bobbing about in the Atlantic Ocean so to land on solid ground, it succeeded on Monday 21 Dec 2015.

F9 first stage approaching Landing Zone 1 (LZ1)

Success :)

GO SPACEX

https://twitter.com/i/cards/tfw/v1/679400723851829251

A first step in reusability

Musk noted in a press call following the event that the company does not plan to reuse the first stage of the Falcon 9 .

"I think we'll probably keep this one on the ground... it's kind of unique, it's the first one we've brought back," he said

SpaceX does, however, intend to perform a static fire with the landed Falcon 9 in order to confirm whether the rocket could potentially fly again.

Notably, Musk did say the company would try to fly a landed Falcon 9 as early as next year.

It's not surprising SpaceX won't be reusing the first Falcon 9 it landed. Landing a rocket is only a first step in reusability. Musk has said that the company will need to examine its rockets after landings in order to figure out where the rocket is over- or under-strengthened, making any adjustments needed to make reusability a reality.