So have any of you heard about United Launch
Alliance, Arianespace, the Russians, the Chinese or others developing reusable rockets or at least first stages?
On 2021-09-25 09:32, Alain Fournier wrote:
So have any of you heard about United Launch
Alliance, Arianespace, the Russians, the Chinese or others developing
reusable rockets or at least first stages?
Launching from Baikonour to either ISS or equatorial orbit, where would
stage 1 land? hint: not in Russia. And if landihg on land, you expect a precise target and what happens when you miss the target?
They could launch from Russia and gain flexibility in where it lands,
but how much performance would they lose launching from more northern latitude and would that reduce the buysiness case for re-usability? (considering Russia doesn't pay Los Angeles salaries to its employees
who build the rockets as does SpaceX)
It has been a few years now since SpaceX has started reusing the first stages of their Falcon 9 rockets. I would have expected that by this time everyone would have recognised that this is the way to go. I know that Blue Origin is also going for reusable. But I haven't heard much about the others developing reusability. Maybe it's only because I missed some announcements. So have any of you heard about United Launch Alliance, Arianespace, the Russians, the Chinese or others developing reusable rockets or at least first stages?
Alain Fournier presented the following explanation :
It has been a few years now since SpaceX has started reusing the first
stages of their Falcon 9 rockets. I would have expected that by this time
everyone would have recognised that this is the way to go. I know that
Blue Origin is also going for reusable. But I haven't heard much about
the others developing reusability. Maybe it's only because I missed some
announcements. So have any of you heard about United Launch Alliance,
Arianespace, the Russians, the Chinese or others developing reusable
rockets or at least first stages?
ULA has mentioned parachuting Vulcan engines home.
The Chinese have emitted drawings that look like Starship, but I haven't >followed that enough to know if they are planning to land them.
The Russians probably have reusable sketches.
I the small sat world, Electron has been practicing chuting home but the >helicopters aren't trying to catch it yet.
/dps
"Snidely" wrote in message news:mn.d8417e59a35d0161.127094@snitoo...
Alain Fournier presented the following explanation :
It has been a few years now since SpaceX has started reusing the
first stages of their Falcon 9 rockets. I would have expected that by
this time everyone would have recognised that this is the way to go.
I know that Blue Origin is also going for reusable. But I haven't
heard much about the others developing reusability. Maybe it's only
because I missed some announcements. So have any of you heard about
United Launch Alliance, Arianespace, the Russians, the Chinese or
others developing reusable rockets or at least first stages?
ULA has mentioned parachuting Vulcan engines home.
Last I saw, they appear to have given up on that.
That said, it always struck me as they learned the wrong lesson from
SpaceX.
Yes, the engines are the most expensive part of the 1st stage and tanks
are cheap, but snagging them in mid-air, landing, and reattaching them
to new tanks is a HUGE operational complexity and cost.
Yes, the engines are the most expensive part of the 1st stage and tanks are cheap, but snagging them in mid-air, landing, and reattaching them to new tanks is a HUGE operational complexity and cost.
On 2021-09-27 13:30, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:
Yes, the engines are the most expensive part of the 1st stage and tanks
are
cheap, but snagging them in mid-air, landing, and reattaching them to new
tanks is a HUGE operational complexity and cost.
The ability for engines to be let go in flight would presume
quick-disconnect plumbing so engines can cleaninly separate from stage
and then fall back with parachute etc.
Once equipped with quick disconnect, once would assume that attaching a
new first stage/tanks on top of engines would be easy.
If you have a bunhc of engines falling from the sky, doubtful they could
be caught by as many helicopters as there are engines, unless the
separation is staged in such a way that each drops a safe distance fro
the other. It might make more sense to drop the cluster as one "pod"
that can be caught.
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