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Do you have any references at all for a winged stage being feasible in any way? Considering that there are plenty of rocket stages out there that can't even be
by kirrent 10y ago
Do you have any references at all for a winged stage being feasible in any way? Considering that there are plenty of rocket stages out there that can't even be moved horizontally unless they're pressurised I doubt anything vaguely resembling the Falcon 9 could ever be retrofitted in the manner you describe. What form would these, presumably retractable, transonic capable, necessarily light wings even take? How would they ever be as light as the remaining fuel load in an ASDS landing, especially when wheels are added?
- anovikov 10y agoRussians played with exactly such a stage, that had wheels from Mig-29 and engines from Yak-40. It was called Baikal and was feasible, but eventually never flew.
- anovikov 10y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikal_(rocket_booster) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikal_(rocket_booster) Here is a Wiki article on it. Reverse: it was supposed to use engine from Mig-29 and wheels from Yak-40 :) Anyway, it never went anywhere beyond mockup stage.