The upgraded Falcon 9 is ready for its maiden voyage

Sep 21, 2013 15:21 GMT  ·  By

SpaceX has concluded a second set of tests of its newly upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, ahead of a launch scheduled for later in the month. As you can see from the video, the rocket engines were fired briefly, but the rocket stayed firmly in place. This second test was done after an initial run uncovered some anomalies.

Everything seems to be in order this time around, so a launch has been scheduled for next Sunday. The Falcon 9 rocket is carrying a Canadian satellite as well as some secondary payloads.

This will be the first launch of the improved Merlin 1D engines and the first launch from SpaceX's new California launch pad. The Falcon 9 v1.1 itself has slightly longer propellant tanks which should help it reach higher altitudes, important for missions that require the payload to be dropped higher above our planet.

The launch will also be the first time SpaceX tries to recover the first stage engine. The engine will be briefly reignited just as it is about to hit the Pacific ocean in its descent, after it separates from the rest of the rocket. The hope is that this will slow it down enough to enable it to be recovered.

This is just a first test and SpaceX founder and CEO puts its success chances at 10 percent. SpaceX's longer term goal is to design a completely reusable rocket. This is why it's been experimenting with the Grasshopper, which uses just one Merlin engine, but which can land safely by itself back to Earth after pushing the later stages and the payload as far as it can.

The Grasshopper has been tested at increasingly high altitudes, but there's still a long way to go before the method is used for an actual launch. Currently, SpaceX is the only ISS resupplier that can retrieve material, such as the results of experiments, from the space station with its Dragon capsule.

All other spacecrafts that supply the ISS burn up on reentry into the atmosphere, with the exception of the Russian Soyuz, currently, the only vehicle that can carry astronauts into space and to the ISS. SpaceX hopes to fulfil that role too with a Dragon capsule capable of carrying humans in the next few years.