SpaceX’s Twitter account has published rare footage of a Falcon Heavy's nose cone detaching from the rocket in the final stage of flight in order to be reused in the future. The two parts of the cone are seen breaking away as the Arabsat-6A satellite, which was launched in April 2019, bursts forward to assume its place in orbit.
The fairing supporting this mission previously flew on Falcon Heavy’s Arabsat-6A mission pic.twitter.com/iTgqqtl1pW
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 5, 2019
The nose cone safely landed in the ocean and was later retrieved. According to SpaceX, the cone will be used in the upcoming 11 November launch of a Falcon 9 rocket that will carry 60 Starlink satellites into orbit. SpaceX's founder and CEO, Elon Musk, earlier reported that he had posted his first tweet using a connection provided by the first Starlink satellites. In the future, Musk expects Starlink to provide worldwide internet coverage using the technology.
Increasing the reusability of its rockets is one of SpaceX's key priorities, since it could significantly reduce the cost of launches. Currently, the company is actively working on increasing the retrieval rate of Falcon 9 boosters using a drone-ship.
