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The grid fins are painted with ablative paint that's supposed to burn away while protecting what's underneath. Same with the legs. But they do suffer damage dur
by ygra 10y ago
The grid fins are painted with ablative paint that's supposed to burn away while protecting what's underneath. Same with the legs. But they do suffer damage during re-entry as could be seen on photos of them from previous landed boosters. I'm fairly sure that's all expected and accounted for.
- jacquesm 10y agoThe legs are only flown once and are replaced in their entirety, they take the brunt of the impact from landing and may suffer non-elastic deformation.
- ygra 10y agoI didn't say the legs were going to be re-used. I just said they were painted in a way that the paint can burn away, just like the grid fins. If you're coming down through your own exhaust you don't want to risk damaging the things you land on a few meters above the ground.