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Questions tagged [reuse]

Questions regarding the reuse of parts or equipment.

0 votes
1 answer
847 views

How many times has SpaceX reused Falcon 9 first stage until 20th May 2022? [closed]

How many times has SpaceX reused Falcon 9 first stage until now? Not about the possibility. I want to know the current progress with the Falcon 9 first stage.
Won's user avatar
  • 17
0 votes
0 answers
102 views

Why can't the Falcon 9 first stage touch the water? [duplicate]

SpaceX is spending considerable effort to catch the Falcon 9 first stage onto a giant drone ship. I am aware that salt water ruins almost everything in the long run, but the first stage is a composite ...
Starship - On Strike's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
1k views

Two-Stage Fully-Reusable Shuttle

In chapter 6 of SP-4221 "The Space Shuttle Decision" they are talking about the fall of the "Two-Stage Fully Reusable Shuttle". In one paragraph they talk about how this Two-Stage ...
Jeroen Smink's user avatar
  • 1,134
1 vote
1 answer
160 views

Could Falcon 9 be Caught by the Orbital Launch Tower?

Would it be possible to catch Falcon 9 with the orbital launch tower by its current grid fins or load points that could be added? If they can do this and then remove the landing legs, would mass ...
Duck's user avatar
  • 327
2 votes
1 answer
326 views

What is the lowest the cost of launch can get to?

The cost of launch has been dramatically reduced by companies such as SpaceX building parts in house. Once that lowered the cost of launch as much as it could, they moved onto reusing the first stage, ...
Starship - On Strike's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
3k views

Why do $\text{CH}_4$ (Raptor) engines produce less soot than RP-1 (Merlin) engines?

SpaceX's Merlin engine, which burns RP-1 and LOX, has soot visible after the first stage lands. Many articles on the web say SpaceX's Raptor engine, which burns methane and LOX, is clean. ...
Ashvin's user avatar
  • 2,888
1 vote
0 answers
117 views

Rocket Lab Archimedes engine injector and reusable charecteristics [closed]

From what has been said, the Archimedes engine isn't particularly ambitious WRT its ISP, however Rocket Lab have said it would be highly reusable, which is interesting. Does anyone know of any special ...
R. Hall's user avatar
  • 822
8 votes
1 answer
712 views

CZ-4B Grid fins

In nov 2019 and sept 2020 the CNSA launched CZ-4B Y38 and CZ-4B Y41. Based on different images I noticed that this Long March 4B had grid fins. On CZ-4B Y41 the grid fins from Y38 were reused making ...
Jeroen Smink's user avatar
  • 1,134
14 votes
1 answer
729 views

What is the heat shield refurbishment procedure for a crew Dragon capsule?

How, specifically, is the heat shield replaced or refurbished? More precisely... How do they know it will work for the next mission? :-P
Michael Stachowsky's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
320 views

Keep a 2nd stage in orbit and refuel [closed]

Why does SpaceX not develop a second stage that can be used to meet with a first stage to pick up payload and refuel, thus transporting goods to orbit repeatedly instead of being used only once?
Kiran's user avatar
  • 69
22 votes
2 answers
4k views

Do Falcon 9s get a thorough wash or a fresh coat of paint (they look clean pre-reflight)?

Before/during reflight, the boosters look white and clean, but after, they don't. I'm not sure if that's soot and/or burned paint. I looked but it doesn't seem to have been asked before. RE Is Falcon ...
ymb1's user avatar
  • 2,423
5 votes
2 answers
810 views

Does Starship reuse actually serve a purpose for Mars, or only LEO/Earth-to-Earth?

(In this question, Starship refers to the reusable 2nd stage, not the full stack w/ Super Heavy). I was thinking about it the other day, and I realized that I'm not sure a reusable Starship actually ...
Drake P's user avatar
  • 429
30 votes
6 answers
12k views

Isn't Starship way too big?

The Shuttle was designed with a huge payload of 20 tons. This was supposed to not be a problem since: the reusability would drive down costs until satellite operators dropped expensive space hardware ...
Abdullah is not an Amalekite's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
522 views

How did the SpaceX come up with such a disruptive design in the Falcon 9?

Because of the answers to Why has a rocket system like Starship never been proposed before? , now I need to ask something I'd always taken for granted. If Falcon 9 wasn't revolutionary for technical ...
kim holder's user avatar
  • 21.4k
3 votes
0 answers
159 views

How does Starship/Superheavy system compare with the hypothetical successor of Soviet Energia/Buran system, "Uragan"?

The both were meant to be fully reusable and have comparable scale.
Anixx's user avatar
  • 3,136

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