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Autonomous ship

Autonomous spaceport drone ships of SpaceX
CRS-8 (26239020092).jpg
Drone ship Of Course I Still Love You carries the first rocket stage ever landed at sea (Falcon 9 FT, CRS-8 mission, 8 April 2016).
Launch site
Location
Short name ASDS
Operator SpaceX
Launch pad(s) 2 oceangoing landing platforms
Just Read the Instructions landing history
Status Active
Landings 4 (1 success, 3 failures)
First landing 10 January 2015 (CRS-5 mission)
Last landing 14 January 2017 (Iridium NEXT mission)
Associated
rockets
Of Course I Still Love You landing history
Status Active
Landings 7 (5 successes, 2 failures)
First landing 4 March 2016 (SES-9 mission)
Last landing 30 March 2017 (SES-10 mission)
Associated
rockets
Falcon 9 Full Thrust
Just Read the Instructions landing history
Status Active
Landings 4 (1 success, 3 failures)
First landing 10 January 2015 (CRS-5 mission)
Last landing 14 January 2017 (Iridium NEXT mission)
Associated
rockets
Of Course I Still Love You landing history
Status Active
Landings 7 (5 successes, 2 failures)
First landing 4 March 2016 (SES-9 mission)
Last landing 30 March 2017 (SES-10 mission)
Associated
rockets
Falcon 9 Full Thrust
Autonomous spaceport drone ship
History
Name: Just Read the Instructions
Owner: McDonough Marine Service
Operator: SpaceX
In service: November 2014
Out of service: May 2015
Status: Retired
General characteristics as drone ship
(2014–present)
Length: 300 ft (91 m)
Beam: 170 ft (52 m)
Depth: 19.8 ft (6 m)
Installed power: Generator units
Propulsion: 4 × 300 hp (220 kW) azimuth thrusters with 1 m (40 in) nozzles, as of January 2015
Notes: Autonomous or remote-controlled operation modes are available during rocket landing operations

An autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) is an ocean-going vessel derived from a deck barge, outfitted with station-keeping engines and a large landing platform. Construction of such ships was commissioned by aerospace company SpaceX to allow for recovery of rocket first-stages at sea for high-velocity missions which do not carry enough fuel to return to the launch site after lofting spacecraft onto an orbital trajectory.

SpaceX has two operational drone ships: Just Read the Instructions in the Pacific for launches from Vandenberg, and Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic for launches from Cape Canaveral. As of March 2017, eleven Falcon 9 flights have attempted to land on a drone ship, with six of them succeeding: the first successful attempt being the CRS-8 mission in April 2016.

The ASDS ships are a key component of the SpaceX reusable launch system development program which aims to significantly lower the price of space launch services through "full and rapid reusability." Any flights going to geostationary orbit or exceeding escape velocity will require landing at sea, encompassing about half of SpaceX missions.


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Wikipedia

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