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Watch SpaceX Try to Catch Rocket Nose Cone Parts Tonight

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SpaceX will try to recover both halves of a rocket nose cone tonight after a satellite launch. (Photo Credit: SpaceX / Twitter)

SpaceX will attempt to recover both halves of a rocket nose cone tonight and you can watch the event live online.

The company is launching a dual-purpose communications satellite called JCSAT-18/Kacific1, which was built to expand internet access in the Southeast Asia/Pacific regions, Engadget reported. The launch window opens at 7:10 p.m. ET and will close at 8:38 p.m. ET and you can stream the mission live here.

The Falcon 9 rocket that will take the satellite to space has been previously used in two other missions. If the launch goes well, the Falcon 9 rocket will deploy the satellite about 30 minutes after liftoff. Roughly 45 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX will try to catch both halves of the rocket nose cone before they reach the ocean.

Obtaining a full nose cone after the mission won’t be easy, but SpaceX has a core plan: When the Falcon 9 rocket attempts to land, a pair of SpaceX’s modified boats will try to recover both nose cone parts via big nets, The Verge noted. Up until today, SpaceX has only caught parts of the rocket nose cone after each of its missions.

If caught, the rocket nose cone can be used again for future space trips. Sometimes these rocket parts aren’t useful once they fall back to our planet, and if they’re not both caught, they can’t be utilized again. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk aims to change that with the JCSAT-18/Kacific1 launch.

“Imagine you had $6 million in cash in a pallet flying through the air, and it’s going to smash into the ocean,” Musk said during a press conference, as reported by The Verge. “Would you try to recover that? Yes. Yes, you would.”

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