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Falcon 9 is still not fully reused - upper stage is disposable. SpaceX would have launch dominance more or less same as it has even without reusability: it's su

Falcon 9 is still not fully reused - upper stage is disposable. SpaceX would have launch dominance more or less same as it has even without reusability: it's success is in technology optimised for cost and reliability vs maximum performance, and vertical integration whereas little or nothing from legacy aerospace suppliers, is used. SpaceX became an industry leader by about 2017 which was before reusability really worked for them. While sure, it is a must to go way past the previous state of the art in cost and volume. It's just that the state of the launch industry outside of SpaceX was so sad it didn't take much to thoroughly disrupt it.

schiffern 2y ago
> Falcon 9 is still not fully reused Yes I'm well aware. Full reusability is their stated goal, not the current status. The fact that they revealed their ultimate goal to the entire industry and they still haven't been able to catch up makes SpaceX dominance even more embarrassing. Rather than keep everything close to the chest, SpaceX literally told everyone else "where the puck will be," but they still missed it. > SpaceX would have launch dominance more or less same as it has even without reusability [citation needed] Building 10x as many first stage rockets isn't cheap.