4 ms·
Not at SpaceX but read /r/spacex a lot. The general consensus from arm chair rocket scientists is that the expendable version of the F9 will eventually be phas
by Cogito 9y ago
Not at SpaceX but read /r/spacex a lot.
The general consensus from arm chair rocket scientists is that the expendable version of the F9 will eventually be phased out completely. The one place it may remain is for customers who want a brand new rocket and also have an unrecoverable mission profile.
As long as the Falcon Heavy is reliable, and the three cores are reliably recovered, it makes sense to replace an F9 expendable launch with a heavy launch. That won't happen immediately, but if the progress goes along a similar trajectory as the F9 did it probably won't take too long before every F9 core is recovered.
Worth noting as well - the Falcon Heavy is never referred to as F9, but rather as F27, as the number refers to the number of engines on the main stage.