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Start launching fuel & components for an Earth-Mars transfer vehicle up on the refurbished rockets? SpaceX LEO parts depot: struts-while-u-wait!
by ethbro 10y ago
Start 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.