The Flying Kangaroo said the timing of recent launches had often changed at late notice but that it had been in touch with the Elon Musk-backed to minimise future disruption, which can last up to six hours.
The carrier currently flies up to six times a week between the NSW capital and South Africa using its 485-capacity A380s, in what is one of its most popular services.
Last year, SpaceX launched 134 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets from the US, carrying both satellites and humans into space.
==
==
While the first stage of the rocket is fully reusable and can land with the help of automation, the second burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere after it has dispatched its payloads into space.
SpaceX often targets the Southern Indian Ocean due to its remoteness, but the stretch of water lies under the Flying Kangaroo’s flight path.
The head of Qantas’ operations centre, Ben Holland, told The Australian, “Over the past few weeks, we’ve had to delay several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney due to advice received from the US Government regarding the re-entry of SpaceX rockets over an extensive area of the Southern Indian Ocean.
“While we try to make any changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches have moved around at late notice which has meant we’ve had to delay some flights just prior to departure.
PROMOTED CONTENT
“Our teams notify customers of changes to their flight as soon as we know it will be impacted.’
“Customers generally understand this is outside of airlines’ control and that we can’t fly in the area when the rocket re-entry is taking place.
“We’re in contact with SpaceX to see if they can refine the areas and time windows for the rocket re-entries to minimise future disruption to our passengers on the route.”
The Falcon 9’s first stage has four landing legs made from carbon fibre and aluminium honeycomb, which deploy just before landing.
Automation, rather than human control, makes rapid control decisions that allow the touchdowns to be reliable.
However, making the second stage reusable would be considerably more difficult, given it is effectively responsible for deploying the payloads into space.
SpaceX does, though, plan to make the Falcon 9's successor, Starship, fully reusable by landing it next to the launch tower with a chopstick-style catch.
The vehicle's seventh test flight could come as early as Thursday morning, AEDT, and will feature the first flight of an upgraded model.
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
Receive the latest developments and updates on Australia’s space industry direct to your inbox. Subscribe today to Space Connect here.
