It's almost like this is becoming a regular occurrence. I'm looking forward to the next generation looking back on this and being incredulous that we used to completely throw away boosters on every launch.
At the CRS-8 post-launch presser Musk said "sometime in June", though lately I've seen them describe it as "later this year". That sort of implies after June.
Is the plan to re-launch the booster during their normal launch schedule (i.e. carrying a client's satellite/material into space)? Or is the plan to simulate a launch and not add additional risk to the launch?
If it is the former, do they think they will be able to adequately calculate a risk percentage for the re-launch? I would assume that if a client is going to be the first test dummy for this process, that they will negotiate significant rate decreases based on the perceived additional risk and the cheaper cost associated with reusing the booster.
They could just simulate a client cargo by loading it up with various heavy objects. They can even be funny about what they load it up with. Imagine 2 tons of "Make America Great Again Hats", floating in orbit, wreaking havoc.
4 now, though the first one is going on display at their headquarters. I believe the second one is going to be examined and undergo ground testing only (might be wrong on that). So that leaves just the third and now this one as candidates for re-flight.
The high velocity drone ship landing (#3) landed too hard and was deemed unusable for launch duty (Edit 1: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648), so realistically, it's likely just two of the four so far.
That's not what he said. He said SpaceX will start testing with the booster that took the most damage, because if it works well then there is high chance that the others will work too.
The problem isn't that it landed hard, it's that it had to slow down very quickly. That's going to be the case for any GTO launch, including today's flight.
From what I understand there was heat damage around the engines.
Edit 2: per user mikeash, it's definitely flyable (i.e. I'm wrong), but it'll still be grounded to aid with testing efforts. Thanks for the kind correction, Mike! https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/734274360588926976
"Max damage" doesn't imply unflyable. A later tweet clarified that it's capable of flying again. They'd rather keep it for extensive testing, though, as an example of the most extreme conditions. It won't fly again, but not because it's too busted.
I would think if damage was within tolerances (even at the maximum of such), they'd be willing to relaunch. Implications from the tweet and subsequent conversations are that the damage exceeded thresholds to guarantee safe future flight, which is why they'd use it for testing on the ground.
I'd still read his tweet as meaning it's "too busted" to fly, but I suppose it's up to each person's own interpretation. Your point is well received.
Yup, user mikeash linked this soon after and clarified it for me, so I expressed my gratitude for his far more graceful and generally polite correction of the error in my comment. heh
Ah good, thanks. That might have been the one I was thinking of then that was just going to be examined. This flight though was also a high velocity landing so it might have similar issues if that's the case.
In all seriousness I hope they release the full feed from that camera. It's got to be a hell of a view to see it bearing down on the drone ship from above.
They're landing so many, pretty soon they are going to have to open up a used booster sales lot.
Speaking of which, when the first booster landed successfully, someone put up a gag Craigslist ad for a used booster ("only used once, excellent condition") but it got taken down quickly, unfortunately.
I've watched the SpaceX launches with my 4-year-old and 2-year-old. Exciting for me, but they really get into it as well. Indoctrination at it's finest. I was born in the 80s and missed the moon race, so it's nice to have this new space race.
I'm reminded of my early 20s when I played Everquest hardcore. My guild was one of the top among all servers. As soon as a new expansion came out we would quickly get to the endgame content and then spend weeks wiping over and over until we finally beat it all. Then we'd beat it again. And again. After a few times no one cared anymore and we went back to "farm-mode" until the next expansion was released. I guess the "next expansion" for SpaceX would be Mars.
