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That doesn't stop them from launching a new Dragon (2? hopefully they'll reuse CRS8's booster before that, but it'd be cool to see the first Dragon 2 on top of
by nicolapcweek94 10y ago
That doesn't stop them from launching a new Dragon (2? hopefully they'll reuse CRS8's booster before that, but it'd be cool to see the first Dragon 2 on top of the first booster landed on the ship) on top of a reused booster though... and of course, reusing the first stage doesn't mean reusing the second stage (which is, in fact, never even recovered)
Moot point though, since SES has pretty much already bought the first reused launch ( http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/02/23/ses-eager-to-fly-satellite-aboard-used-falcon-9-rocket/ http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/02/23/ses-eager-to-fly-satell... )
- lmm 10y ago> That doesn't stop them from launching a new Dragon (2? hopefully they'll reuse CRS8's booster before that, but it'd be cool to see the first Dragon 2 on top of the first booster landed on the ship) on top of a reused booster though... and of course, reusing the first stage doesn't mean reusing the second stage (which is, in fact, never even recovered) Sure. My point is that kind of mission is nowhere near as cheap as "throw a bunch of food/water/fuel on top and send it up".
- ethbro 10y agoStart launching fuel & components for an Earth-Mars transfer vehicle up on the refurbished rockets? SpaceX LEO parts depot: struts-while-u-wait!
- lmm 10y agoWould still involve an expended second stage, and would be unlikely to be usable. In-orbit assembly is still extremely expensive because spacewalk time is extremely expensive and self-assembly isn't quite there - it's usually cheaper to launch a vehicle in one piece (which AIUI is SpaceX's plan), even if you have to build a bigger rocket to do so.