4 ms·
From which flight was the one that is too beat up to be reused? What happened?
by avian 10y ago
From which flight was the one that is too beat up to be reused? What happened?
- mrexroad 10y agoIt landed too hard iirc.
- ygra 10y agoJCSAT-14. It was the first successful landing after a GTO launch and it came down quite hard. GTO launches have the first stage come back quite a bit faster and with less fuel margin than LEO launches. See for example the SES-9 launch where landing failed due to too little fuel being left. While SpaceX opted to test this core to the breaking point, they also noted that it could have been reused despite the damage. But having a core that represents more or less the worst damage possible while still being able to refly it is valuable in itself and for comparing other landed cores against. They have since fired the engines for numerous full-duration burns at their test site and presumably nothing exploded yet. This doesn't tell much about aerodynamic stresses imposed, but at least the engines and tanks are seemingly good to go with minimal refurbishment for a few reflights at least.