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Space X 2nd stage recovery
https://www.space.com/40313-spacex-r...y-balloon.html
I find this interesting for a couple of reasons. The approach is interesting and I wonder who much it'll impact the final payload numbers. But more so, it seems like both a somewhat low-risk, but also low-reward approach. It's low-risk since if it doesn't work, they're already beating folks on launch costs, so if this fails, they're not out anything. Their business model doesn't depend on ths. On the other hand, recovering a single Merlin won't save them that much money. And if BFR is so close flying, what's the point? I mean I think it's pretty cool, but ultimately, I wonder who much it'll be worth the trouble. (assuming they do catch the thing somewhere in the Pacific, they still have to then get it back to the US mainland.) Though, it suddenly dawns on me, heck, save the engine, forget the tanks and you can fly the engine home in a air-freighter and still save the most costly item. |
#3
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Space X 2nd stage recovery
Jeff Findley wrote on Tue, 17 Apr 2018
20:05:43 -0400: In article , says... https://www.space.com/40313-spacex-r...y-balloon.html I find this interesting for a couple of reasons. The approach is interesting and I wonder who much it'll impact the final payload numbers. On Falcon 9 the mass of the system would be fairly critical so they might not be able to recover very many of those stages. But on Falcon Heavy, the mass penalty wouldn't matter much, so you'd think they could try to recover many more. But more so, it seems like both a somewhat low-risk, but also low-reward approach. It's low-risk since if it doesn't work, they're already beating folks on launch costs, so if this fails, they're not out anything. Their business model doesn't depend on ths. On the other hand, recovering a single Merlin won't save them that much money. And if BFR is so close flying, what's the point? Practice for the upper stage of BFR. More engineering data. Even when SpaceX doesn't plan to recover a Falcon 9 first stage, they've been using them for test "landings" in the ocean in order to gather more data on "hotter" reentry and landings. I mean I think it's pretty cool, but ultimately, I wonder who much it'll be worth the trouble. (assuming they do catch the thing somewhere in the Pacific, they still have to then get it back to the US mainland.) Though, it suddenly dawns on me, heck, save the engine, forget the tanks and you can fly the engine home in a air-freighter and still save the most costly item. I doubt SpaceX would do that. They'd want the whole stage back for inspection, even if the engine is the only thing they can actually reuse. Again, more engineering data. Build a little, test a little, fly a little. That's how they're gaining their experience in reuse. Oh, I didn't mention it before, but if you're using Falcon Heavy for Moon missions, you're using it in expendable mode because if you try to recover the cores you have nowhere near enough boost for those missions. -- "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." --George Bernard Shaw |
#4
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Space X 2nd stage recovery
On 18/04/2018 5:19 AM, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:
https://www.space.com/40313-spacex-r...y-balloon.html I find this interesting for a couple of reasons. The approach is interesting and I wonder who much it'll impact the final payload numbers. But more so, it seems like both a somewhat low-risk, but also low-reward approach. It's low-risk since if it doesn't work, they're already beating folks on launch costs, so if this fails, they're not out anything. Their business model doesn't depend on ths. On the other hand, recovering a single Merlin won't save them that much money. And if BFR is so close flying, what's the point? I mean I think it's pretty cool, but ultimately, I wonder who much it'll be worth the trouble. (assuming they do catch the thing somewhere in the Pacific, they still have to then get it back to the US mainland.) Though, it suddenly dawns on me, heck, save the engine, forget the tanks and you can fly the engine home in a air-freighter and still save the most costly item. This may be more about symbolism than economics. If he can recover the second stage, as well as the cowling, then he'll have a 100% reusable launcher. Sylvia. |
#5
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Space X 2nd stage recovery
On 4/17/2018 3:19 PM, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:
https://www.space.com/40313-spacex-r...y-balloon.html I find this interesting for a couple of reasons. The approach is interesting and I wonder who much it'll impact the final payload numbers. But more so, it seems like both a somewhat low-risk, but also low-reward approach. I remember years back when Musk first propose recovering Falcon 9 stages that the topic of a ballute came up on the a-rocket mailing list, ostensibly as a way to recover the 2nd stage short of propulsive landing. It's low-risk since if it doesn't work, they're already beating folks on launch costs, so if this fails, they're not out anything. Their business model doesn't depend on ths. On the other hand, recovering a single Merlin won't save them that much money. And if BFR is so close flying, what's the point? Yes I agree. I suspect they are using it mainly for learning curve rather than practical economics, with BFR looming. I mean I think it's pretty cool, but ultimately, I wonder who much it'll be worth the trouble. (assuming they do catch the thing somewhere in the Pacific, they still have to then get it back to the US mainland.) Though, it suddenly dawns on me, heck, save the engine, forget the tanks and you can fly the engine home in a air-freighter and still save the most costly item. I suspect this is (primarily) research on ballutes for use on other future projects. You are getting high altitude from orbit returns for free. Why not take advantage? Jeff Findley writes: Build a little, test a little, fly a little. That's how they're gaining their experience in reuse That how they've gained lots of kinds of experience... Dave |
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