Space News by Jeff Foust 7/19/2017
SpaceX no longer plans to have the next version of its Dragon spacecraft be capable of powered landings, a move that has implications for the company’s long-term Mars plans.
SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, speaking at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference here July 19, confirmed recent rumors that the version of the Dragon spacecraft under development for NASA’s commercial crew program will not have the ability to land on land using SuperDraco thrusters that will be incorporated into the spacecraft primarily as a launch abort system.
“It was a tough decision,” he said when asked about propulsive landing capability during a question-and-answer session. “Technically it still is, although you’d have to land it on some pretty soft landing pad because we’ve deleted the little legs that pop out of the heat shield.”
SpaceX planned to transition from splashdowns, which is how the current cargo version of the Dragon returns to Earth, to “propulsive” landings at a pad at some point after the vehicle’s introduction. Certification issues, he said, for propulsive landings led him to cancel those plans.
“It would have taken a tremendous amount of effort to qualify that for safety, particularly for crew transport,” he said.
Another reason for the change, he said, is that SpaceX had reconsidered what is the best way to land large spacecraft on the surface of Mars in support of the company’s long-term goals to establish a human presence there.
“There was a time that I thought the Dragon approach to landing Mars, where you’ve got a base heat shield and side-mounted thrusters, would be the right way to land on Mars,” he said. “Now I’m pretty confident that is not the right way and there’s a far better approach.”
He didn’t describe that alternative approach, but said that “the next generation of SpaceX rockets and spacecraft” will use that different landing technique. In a later tweet, though, Musk clarified that the alternative approach will also use a version of propulsive landing.
More:
http://spacenews.com/spacex-drops-plans-for-powered-dragon-landings/
