SpaceX, the US-based aerospace and space transport company, has made some big announcements this week. The aerospace firm has just confirmed that the Dragon Capsule has safely returned to Earth.
According to TechCrunch, the Dragon capsule has finally returned to Earth with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The space capsule was reportedly loaded with experimental payloads and other space cargo during its month-long stay at the International Space Station.
The cargo includes a supercomputer built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the American IT service company.
As mentioned earlier by TechCrunch, the HPE’s supercomputer has been designed to test whether software hardening alone can keep the computer operating as intended even under extreme environmental conditions.
Despite the huge payloads, the Dragon capsule has managed to make a proper deployment of its parachutes during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. This proper parachute deployment has led to a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Dragon capsule, from launch to return
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule went to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Space X Falcon 9 rocket on August 14. The Falcon 9 rocket, which was launched at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, reached the orbiting research outpost in less than two days.
The Dragon capsule, which was heavily loaded with experiments and supplies, is the 12th successful ISS resupply mission that SpaceX has made.
As mentioned earlier by Space.com, the SpaceX's Dragon capsule started its space journey with more than 6,400 pounds of food, supplies, and science experiments. In addition, the capsule also includes some protein-crystal growth experiments about possible treatment for Parkinson's disease.
Additionally, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) also included some ice cream for the space crews.
During its re-entry, the Dragon capsule made a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles, California. SpaceX’s recovery team quickly sprung into action, pulling out the floating capsule and ferrying it back to a port near Long Beach.
Ground crews were also on standby, waiting to extract some time-critical specimens for distribution and scientific analysis for research.
The aerospace firm will return the Dragon capsule to its facility in McGregor, Texas, where it will undergo unpacking and post-flight processing for potential reuse for future space missions.
SpaceX and Tesla to collaborate?
In other SpaceX-related news, CleanTechnica reported earlier that SpaceX and Tesla would make a good combination and that their combined strengths would make a disruption in the tech world. Wall Street analyst Ben Kallo said that SpaceX can contribute to what Tesla is doing right now. Kallo also claims that SpaceX can give Tesla a complete advantage over other manufacturers and automakers, CleanTechnica reported.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also made some good comments about the combination and a possible cross-company collaboration. Musk said that there are some unique synergies between the two companies.
Tesla currently has more than 33,000 employees while SpaceX has about 6,000. This gives Musk a huge talent pool to dig deep in order to gain a competitive advantage in today’s highly-competitive market, according to CleanTechnica.
