U.S. Air Force To Start Reusable First-stage Booster Efforts This Year

摘要

Believing reusable first-stage boosters could make future rockets cheaper to operate and quicker to the launch pad, the U.S. Air Force is initiating multiple efforts to study and demonstrate technologies associated with this long-sought capability.rnIn contrast to the completely expendable rockets the Air Force relies on today for putting satellites in orbit, the rockets the service envisions for the future would be built around a first stage capable of flying back to the launch site to be refueled and flown again.