In article 60d6e678-bb96-4e9d-9ee1-ed4a7f5899e0
@g29g2000yqh.googlegroups.com, says...

One possibility is that SpaceX is fishing for U.S. Air Force R&D
money. USAF has been playing with the idea of fly back boosters for
whatever comes after EELV. SpaceX probably wants to play that game.

Possibly, but such money comes with many strings attached. The biggest
reason SpaceX's costs are so low is that they aren't tied up with the
typical strings which come with government contracts.

Jeff
--
" Ares 1 is a prime example of the fact that NASA just can't get it
up anymore... and when they can, it doesn't stay up long. "
- tinker