5 ms·

I don't think that's the question. You're speaking of what they charge. I'm curious (and fwiw I'm not the OP, so I have no idea if they were asking this... :)

by zzalpha 10y ago

I don't think that's the question. You're speaking of what they charge. I'm curious (and fwiw I'm not the OP, so I have no idea if they were asking this... :) what it costs. Put another way, I wonder what this does to their margins?

agildehaus 10y ago
Another thing to think about is SpaceX's customers don't buy the rockets, they buy the launch. So every first stage a customer pays SpaceX to build, once it completes it main mission, is now a stage SpaceX can use for their own purpose ... like building a LEO constellation of 11,943 satellites.
- AstralStorm 10y ago
  Why would you want that much trash in LEO?
  - justinjlynn 10y ago
    Because it doesn't have to stay there.
  - Kubuxu 10y ago
    LEO in most cases decay by themselves as for small amounts of air still being present. This means that LEO trash will burn in the atmosphere sooner or later.
  - gnode 10y ago
    Trash in LEO goes away; trash in GEO doesn't. The LEO satellite constellation replaces (with much lower latency, and greater locality) a bunch of GEO satellites.
Tuna-Fish 10y ago
Depends on how many times they can re-use a core. The upper limit comes from the fact that they are currently only reusing the first stage, and that the first stage core is ~75% of the cost of a launch. So, if they can use a core n times, they get a % discount: 2 38% 3 50% 4 56% 5 60% 10 68% They are planning on additional future reuse, the next portion is probably recovering the fairings.
- apearson 10y ago
  Didn't they recover the fairings on today's launch?
  - cletusw 10y ago
    They did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC3LQFpuzqs&t=12m19s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC3LQFpuzqs&t=12m19s http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42544.msg1661124#msg1661124 http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42544.msg16... This one probably isn't reusable since it landed in the water. Their next goal is to make a floating "bouncy castle" to land it on.
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      > Their next goal is to make a floating "bouncy castle" to land it on. Can't wait to learn what name they'll pick for it.
- robotresearcher 10y ago
  I wonder if a thrice-used rocket will prove to be less reliable than a brand-new rocket due to fatigue, or more reliable than a brand-new rocket because it's proven itself to not be a lemon. This development is great. So much fun to watch.
  - azernik 10y ago
    There will probably be a bathtub curve, like with pretty much every complex system known to man.

by zzalpha 10y ago

agildehaus 10y ago

Another thing to think about is SpaceX's customers don't buy the rockets, they buy the launch. So every first stage a customer pays SpaceX to build, once it completes it main mission, is now a stage SpaceX can use for their own purpose ... like building a LEO constellation of 11,943 satellites.

AstralStorm 10y ago
Why would you want that much trash in LEO?
- justinjlynn 10y ago
  Because it doesn't have to stay there.
- Kubuxu 10y ago
  LEO in most cases decay by themselves as for small amounts of air still being present. This means that LEO trash will burn in the atmosphere sooner or later.
- gnode 10y ago
  Trash in LEO goes away; trash in GEO doesn't. The LEO satellite constellation replaces (with much lower latency, and greater locality) a bunch of GEO satellites.

Tuna-Fish 10y ago

Depends on how many times they can re-use a core. The upper limit comes from the fact that they are currently only reusing the first stage, and that the first stage core is ~75% of the cost of a launch. So, if they can use a core n times, they get a % discount: 2 38% 3 50% 4 56% 5 60% 10 68% They are planning on additional future reuse, the next portion is probably recovering the fairings.

apearson 10y ago
Didn't they recover the fairings on today's launch?
- cletusw 10y ago
  They did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC3LQFpuzqs&t=12m19s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC3LQFpuzqs&t=12m19s http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42544.msg1661124#msg1661124 http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42544.msg16... This one probably isn't reusable since it landed in the water. Their next goal is to make a floating "bouncy castle" to land it on.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    > Their next goal is to make a floating "bouncy castle" to land it on. Can't wait to learn what name they'll pick for it.
robotresearcher 10y ago
I wonder if a thrice-used rocket will prove to be less reliable than a brand-new rocket due to fatigue, or more reliable than a brand-new rocket because it's proven itself to not be a lemon. This development is great. So much fun to watch.
- azernik 10y ago
  There will probably be a bathtub curve, like with pretty much every complex system known to man.