SpaceX Falcon delivers NASA/NOAA satellite but has rough landing

A landing at sea may have been disrupted by rough waves.

On Sunday, SpaceX's Falcon booster successfully lifted the Jason-3 satellite into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Following that, the first stage attempted to achieve a landing on the Just Read the Instructions barge, which was floating off the California coast. The barge was experiencing 12-to-15-foot waves at the time of liftoff and just as the rocket descended towards the barge, communications went out possibly due to those rough seas.

As a result, while the first stage returned on target to its autonomous drone ship, it broke one of its landing legs. Despite the landing mishap, the satellite was successfully delivered to its polar orbit.

The failed water landing attempt follows the company's historic return to a landing site on the coast of Florida in December, when SpaceX became the first company to deliver a payload to orbit and then successfully fly the booster back to Earth.

Before the successful land return, SpaceX had tried twice to land its spent rocket on a barge, in January and April of 2015, but failed in part due to the inherent instability of a sea-based platform. Despite the challenge of landing at sea, the company would like to perfect sea-based landings so it can have its rockets returned.

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After a rocket launch, the first stage flies several hundred miles downrange and must expend propellant to fly back to land. For launches that require a maximum amount of energy, such as sending larger payloads to geostationary orbit, there will not be enough fuel to fly back to land.

For Sunday's launch, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, the vehicle had to attempt a water landing because SpaceX had not yet received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to return to land in California.

Jason-3 is the latest in a series of satellites that monitor the altitude of the oceans' surface. These have been crucial to tracking the sea level rise that has accompanied our changing climate. To do so, it relies on a polar orbit, which is relatively easy to reach from Vandenberg.

The company's subsequent launch will take off from Florida no earlier than February 6, but that rocket must deliver the SES-9 communications satellite to geostationary orbit. That will consume nearly all of the rocket's fuel and necessitate a sea landing. The launch after that, a supply mission to the International Space Station scheduled no earlier than March 20, will likewise require a sea-based landing because of the supply-laden Dragon cargo ship being delivered.