Photo says a billion words...@elonmusk: There and back again http://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/679137936416329728/photo/1
Last edited:
Sticking it SpaceX Style
- Thread starter |2 /-\ | /|/
- Start date
Probably some type of refurbishment and cleaning and preparation, however significantly cheaper vs. cost to build a new one...
Last edited:
I think the difficulty of the landing is equivalent to landing a pencil on a desk at high speed.
I wonder what they did to balance the rocket so it doesn't tip over. There must be a lot of torque from the propellant when it's landing.
I wonder what they did to balance the rocket so it doesn't tip over. There must be a lot of torque from the propellant when it's landing.
Only the first stage is recovered, best estimates I have seen for the cost, put it at around $30M to manufacture. So it will be interesting to see what the refurb. cost is. Also, how will insurance companies feel about the reuse of the main booster to launch an insanely expensive satellite.
Since this is the first time they've successfully landed a first stage they probably aren't sure yet how much effort and time it will take to refurb. This is still a learning experience. When they do complete the refurb my bet is that they use it in either a demo launch or some lower value payload, which might get a discount. It'll be important to demonstrate the successful reuse before insurance companies and customers alike are comfortable with it. The landing was an important first step though.
This is what they claimed for the Shuttle launch systems, but it turned out to be not true.
From what I've read they will NOT be reusing this rocket. It will be taken apart a thoroughly studied to look for any damage and other concerns. The plan is to launch more in the near future and bring one of those back to refurbish and relaunch.
They are taking their time. Good for them. The goal is to come up with a long term solution, I applaud their caution.
They are taking their time. Good for them. The goal is to come up with a long term solution, I applaud their caution.
NASA is considering the Moon for staging purpose and to reduce costs... http://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...SA-is-reconsidering-the-moon-as-a-6178116.php
Moon could become a popular destination for space tourism as well...imagine a resort of sorts for the billionaires with pools and all the other fun stuff to do with reduced gravity.
Maybe they can make it profitable make a business case with the available materials to mine and extract plus introduce space tourism...could work.
