Earl Colby Pottinger wrote in message ...
...
different stresses, etc. - but in general, which of these approaches
requires you to carry more extra weight on launch?

Not true. You are making assumtions before looking at all options.

There is at least one design that after doing a ballistic reentry comes to a
stop a couple of hundred feet above sea level because the base design is
light than air once all the fuel is used. How do you define dead weight in
that context?

Someone has suggested mid-air capture as a recovery mode.

Then there is my 'as crazy as a loon' idea of a wheeled lanuch sled that also
is used for the landing phase.

The fact is the range of possible designs has barely been explored.

The following two fall somewhere in between gliding and powered
recovery:

Rotor recovery a la roton
Peter Lynn's Tethered free-flying wings concept
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...le.snap.net.nz