SpaceX's Recovery Vessel 'Mr. Steven' Gets a Massive Net Upgrade

I got me a new net for some sky fishing ?
By kegman83 on reddit ;) pic.twitter.com/ZQiFrxUkUY

— Mr. Steven (@FairingCatcher) July 12, 2018

Massive new net has best chance to recover rockets

The vessel's huge baseball glove-like net now stretches out to 3700 m². The new upgrades give SpaceX a really good chance at completing its first catch. Both the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets make use of detachable heat shields — known as rocket fairings.

These fairings are at the nose of the rocket and protect the payload during blast off. The fairings are made at a huge cost, about 5% of the rocket’s total value, but are usually discarded once the rocket leaves the atmosphere. However, Elon Musk’s vision for SpaceX is to catch and rescue these fairings to reduce the overall cost of building and launching the rockets.

If all goes well, the parachute equipped rocket fairings should float back to earth, landing safely in the new massive net.

Mr. Steven was observed performing aggressive turns and sprints up to 20 knots (~25 mph), pushing the 200 foot long (62 m) boat which has a gross weight of nearly 200,000 pounds (82,000 kg).

#SpaceXArmada's Mr Steven back at it again today after the new, over-sized rocket payload fairing catcher's net installation. Shakedown & practice for July 25th next Iridium 7 launch from Vandenberg AFB. #SpaceX pic.twitter.com/WGyROukyWH

— Cowboy Dan (@CowboyDanPaasch) July 14, 2018

Recovery vessel will re-debut on July 25 

Mr. Steven needs to be able to respond fast to any alteration to the rocket fairings' course in order to position itself for a successful catch and recovery. It will get its chance on July 25 when the Iridium’s NEXT 7 multi-satellite launch is scheduled.

Initially planned for July 20, the launch was delayed to ensure adequate time for SpaceX engineers to prepare the company’s third Falcon 9 Block 5. The slight delay also bought some time for Mr.Steven to be as ready as possible for its latest upgraded debut.

SpaceX needs to find balance between re-use and recovery cost

Mr. Steven was first deployed in February but failed to catch either of Falcon 9’s fairings.

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In May, SpaceX reported they were able to recover both fairings from a Falcon 9, but that neither successfully landed on Mr. Steven’s net, instead both hit the ocean.

It seems the watery launch didn’t damage the fairings however it is unlikely that they can be reused due to their saltwater immersion. SpaceX has said they want to do at least 24 Falcon launches next year. Being able to catch at least some of the fairings from these missions would, in theory, go a long way to reduce the cost of each mission.

However, critics also observe that the increased sea fleet adds a huge amount of cost and complexity to missions that may become a hindrance to SpaceX's overall vision.