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Old August 11th 18, 12:19 PM posted to sci.space.policy
Jeff Findley[_6_]
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Default reflight of SpaceX Block5

In article ,
says...

On 2018-08-10 08:10, Jeff Findley wrote:

Unless my coffee is weak this morning, I count 3 months between May and
August. But agreed, that's not bad, especially since they had to tear
this one down a bit to verify that they didn't have to tear it down.
:-)



3 months at this early stage of Block 5 is damned impressive. Thanks
for the info.

I wonder how many stages will get "extra" treatment between flights to
validate.

Also, considering they have yet to validate how many flights can be done
with Blcok5, woudl it be fair to state that the early block5s will
contineu to get extra attention between flights ?


Unsure. I'm sure they'll continue to do spot checks over the years.
But the plan is to build enough boosters that they never come close to
10 flights each. Even with delays, BFR/BFS will take over long before
the Falcon Block 5 boosters come near their limit before refurbishment.
Worst case scenario, BFR/BFS never comes to fruition, and SpaceX has to
start refurbishing Block 5 boosters. In which case the design is
supposed to be good for something like 100 flights each maximum. I
think SpaceX is good.

I'd guess that the stage with the most flights will get special turn
around processing while stages with fewer flights will get faster turn
around.


That's likely true. You fly one booster more than the others then at
regular intervals you tear it down to inspect it to look for anything
unusual (fatigue cracking, seals breaking down, unusual wear, and etc).

Jeff
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