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On 2017-06-04 20:57, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:

I'm waiting for the first CRS with re-used Dragon AND 1st stage.

I know it is easy to write NASA off as the guilty party, not wanting
re-used hardware and such.

BUT...

Letting NASA "insist" on paying for new stages leaves SpaceX with a
fleet of recovered stages it can re-use for free and thus undercut
everyone for commercial launches.

In essence, by not figting NASA's "must be new" requirement, SpaceX is
getting NASA to pay for a fleet of stage 1s that SpaceX then uses for
commercial launches.

Consider the economics when NASA has paid for the stage that you use for
multiple commecial launches while your competitor has to build and pay
for a new stage for every launch.

The bigger the fleet of brand spanking new Stage 1 that NASA is willing
to pay for, the bigger the fleet that SpaceX inherits for free to use
for commercial operations.

To be fair, SpaceX is launching a lot of non-NASA payloads these days.
With or without NASA, SpaceX is going to start reusing a lot of first
stages, especially when the Block 5 first stages start flying (hopefully
sometime this year). Block 5 reportedly includes changes to make the
first stage much easier to inspect and refly than the current Block 4
which includes inspection and some refurbishment/replacement of parts.

Article:

SpaceX Advances Space Hardware Reuse With Latest Flight
Jun 3, 2017 Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
http://aviationweek.com/space/spacex...ardware-reuse-
latest-flight

Jeff
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