SpaceX sells its first second-hand spaceship for launch this year

The US rocket maker owned by Elon Musk has made its first deal to supply one of its pre-used spacecraft to launch a satellite for Luxembourg's SES.

Recovered SpaceX Falcon rocket boosters in a hangar at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The company has signed its first customer for one of its used rockets. Courtesy : SpaceX

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has signed its first customer to use a previously flown rocket, with launch planned for later this year, the companies said.

The launch for Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES will mark the first commercial reuse of a Falcon 9 rocket, which is crucial to efforts by technology entrepreneur Mr Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies to reduce the cost of space launches.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell previously said the company was targeting a 30 per cent discount for launches aboard previously flown rockets, which would bring the price down to about US$43 million per flight, a fraction of what competitors charge.

SpaceX has so far landed six Falcon 9 rockets and will attempt to land its seventh after Saturday’s scheduled launch in Florida of a communications satellite.

“We believe reusable rockets will open up a new era of spaceflight, and make access to space more efficient in terms of cost and manifest management,” said Martin Halliwell, the SES chief technology officer.

SES, which in 2013 became SpaceX’s first commercial customer, plans to launch its SES-10 communications satellite on a used Falcon 9 rocket in late 2016.

The rocket previously flew in April to send a cargo ship on its way to the International Space Station for Nasa, said the SpaceX spokesman John Taylor.

“Re-launching a rocket that has already delivered spacecraft to orbit is an important milestone on the path to complete and rapid reusability,” Mr Shotwell said.

Mr Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of slashing launch costs to make travel to Mars affordable. The company plans to fly its first unmanned spacecraft to Mars in 2018 and send humans to Mars as early as 2024.

Mr Musk is expected to unveil details of his Mars programme at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, next month.

SpaceX’s major competitors are United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and Europe’s Arianespace.

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter