3 ms·
It's published to be able to run at 70%, which is quite nice. But 70% is still way too much to match stage weight. It's been said to be capable of 60% (or mayb
by jccooper 12y ago
It's published to be able to run at 70%, which is quite nice. But 70% is still way too much to match stage weight.
It's been said to be capable of 60% (or maybe 40%, depending on how you interpret a three-character tweet). But even that is still not enough: the stage is 40k lb empty and a Merlin D at sea level is 165k lb thrust. You'd need to get it to 25-33% to hover nearly-empty.
(Keep in mind most SpaceX numbers involve a fair amount of guesswork and Kremlinology, and they're always changing, but they should be ballpark accurate.)