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Kind of paradoxical that just after their first successful landing they ramp up rocket production. Isn't the point of re-usability not to have to build so many

Kind of paradoxical that just after their first successful landing they ramp up rocket production. Isn't the point of re-usability not to have to build so many rockets?

knowaveragejoe 11y ago
More rockets to re-use, I'm guessing.
- rplnt 11y ago
  I don't think their current rockets are reusable. Only once they figure it out they can build more expensive engines that could be reused. I might be wrong though.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - DennisP 11y ago
    Current rockets are supposed to be reusable, they've designed them that way from the beginning. They've already test-fired the one they brought back, and it looks like they can reuse with minimal refurbishing. http://www.universetoday.com/126837/spacex-test-fires-recovered-falcon-9-booster-major-step-reusable-rockets/ http://www.universetoday.com/126837/spacex-test-fires-recove...
  - knowaveragejoe 11y ago
    They are, and I expect if nothing else they want to continue to attempt more landings for study purposes. We won't see actual rapid re-use of rockets for few more years though.
grecy 11y ago
Elon's best guess is 70% success rate on landings for 2016 - https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/689299216607232000 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/689299216607232000
ohitsdom 11y ago
That was the first mission return landing, ever. It'll be awhile before they can reuse a first stage for a mission, there's a lot to study and learn from returned stages and static firings (as the article said, they are already making changes based on what they learned).
DennisP 11y ago
So far they've only landed the first stage, not the whole rocket. And they've successfully brought it back to land, but not to the barge, which is what they need for larger payloads (since returning to the launch site requires fuel). And maybe they think by the time they're reusing rockets on a regular basis, they'll have enough volume to need the bigger factory as well. I don't think they've said how many times they expect to reuse each rocket.
- mrec 11y ago
  > but not to the barge, which is what they need for larger payloads (since returning to the launch site requires fuel) To be clear, landing on the barge requires fuel too, just not as much.
ChuckMcM 11y ago
I think if you step back and think about this you'll see there isn't really a paradox here. SpaceX makes revenue on launches, if we assume that they make a profit on launches, then more launches means more money. None of that requires that their rockets are re-usable. When they they are "Category 3" certified[1], other customers treat that like a reason to trust them with more valuable payloads and so more business will come their way as well. So SpaceX works on growing and investing without re-usability. And when when you add resuable boosters to the supply, its like kicking on the after burner of profitability. You can now launch something for half the cost and make more margin, or at the same cost and make huuuge margins. If you get to that point, then you have a really strong competitive advantage against older competitors. [1] http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/05/15/spacex-gets-certified-to-launch-nasa-science-missions/ http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/05/15/spacex-gets-certified-t...
mikeash 11y ago
In addition to all the rest, they still need to build a new second stage for every launch.

Kind of paradoxical that just after their first successful landing they ramp up rocket production. Isn't the point of re-usability not to have to build so many rockets?

knowaveragejoe 11y ago

More rockets to re-use, I'm guessing.

rplnt 11y ago
I don't think their current rockets are reusable. Only once they figure it out they can build more expensive engines that could be reused. I might be wrong though.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- DennisP 11y ago
  Current rockets are supposed to be reusable, they've designed them that way from the beginning. They've already test-fired the one they brought back, and it looks like they can reuse with minimal refurbishing. http://www.universetoday.com/126837/spacex-test-fires-recovered-falcon-9-booster-major-step-reusable-rockets/ http://www.universetoday.com/126837/spacex-test-fires-recove...
- knowaveragejoe 11y ago
  They are, and I expect if nothing else they want to continue to attempt more landings for study purposes. We won't see actual rapid re-use of rockets for few more years though.

grecy 11y ago

Elon's best guess is 70% success rate on landings for 2016 - https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/689299216607232000 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/689299216607232000

ohitsdom 11y ago

That was the first mission return landing, ever. It'll be awhile before they can reuse a first stage for a mission, there's a lot to study and learn from returned stages and static firings (as the article said, they are already making changes based on what they learned).

DennisP 11y ago

So far they've only landed the first stage, not the whole rocket. And they've successfully brought it back to land, but not to the barge, which is what they need for larger payloads (since returning to the launch site requires fuel). And maybe they think by the time they're reusing rockets on a regular basis, they'll have enough volume to need the bigger factory as well. I don't think they've said how many times they expect to reuse each rocket.

mrec 11y ago
> but not to the barge, which is what they need for larger payloads (since returning to the launch site requires fuel) To be clear, landing on the barge requires fuel too, just not as much.

ChuckMcM 11y ago

I think if you step back and think about this you'll see there isn't really a paradox here. SpaceX makes revenue on launches, if we assume that they make a profit on launches, then more launches means more money. None of that requires that their rockets are re-usable. When they they are "Category 3" certified[1], other customers treat that like a reason to trust them with more valuable payloads and so more business will come their way as well. So SpaceX works on growing and investing without re-usability. And when when you add resuable boosters to the supply, its like kicking on the after burner of profitability. You can now launch something for half the cost and make more margin, or at the same cost and make huuuge margins. If you get to that point, then you have a really strong competitive advantage against older competitors. [1] http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/05/15/spacex-gets-certified-to-launch-nasa-science-missions/ http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/05/15/spacex-gets-certified-t...

mikeash 11y ago

In addition to all the rest, they still need to build a new second stage for every launch.