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Man would you just look at that swell! I'm thinking the crush cores might have taken a beating there too. That was a seriously impressive landing!

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4 minutes ago, tater said:

This wins the forum for today.

...right about the time everybody runs out of likes, too. :rolleyes:

1 minute ago, Jaff said:

Can anyone confirm that was the Falcon heavy strong back that was used!?

It was not. IIRC, Vandenburg will probably never see a FH launch, and so won't be equipped for it. It will only be supported out of SLC-39a (38? B? The one's that not SLC-40) and probably Boca Chica.

Edited by CatastrophicFailure
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It has to be said eventually:

Re-use by one company, presuming for the sake of argument that it reduces costs, just means super-profits for them as they out-perform the competition; the savings go to SpaceX primarily, because they only have to outbid the next-best, non-reusable option. Access to space may get marginally cheaper, but not dramatically so.

Re-use by multiple companies means competition will drive prices closer to costs, with the savings being passed on to customers, because each provider would have to out-bid another with equally low costs. That's how you get the drastically cheaper access to space that excites us.

So, who's next? Are there any feasible means by which SpaceX's advancements could be shared with other launch providers? E.g., do they have patents that will expire? Could the government buy some of their IP and make it public domain? Or will ULA have to re-invent their own reuse from scratch?

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6 minutes ago, Brotoro said:

I wonder if the booster's onboard camera used to get gunked up from stuff burning off of the grid fins...because the view stayed clearer this time.

After watching this launch, I was wondering that too. I kept thinking that it would be nice to have the rotating protector like they have in racing to clear the lens up. Then maybe the entry heating was damaging the lens protector? They could fix that by using quartz glass or other high temp glass. Now, burning gridfins doesn't seem like such a bad explanation. 

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3 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

It has to be said eventually:

 

Nail on the head. Best thing to come of this is faster turn around times. It'll indeed take competition to drive prices down. Routing for BO!

2 minutes ago, Racescort666 said:

After watching this launch, I was wondering that too. I kept thinking that it would be nice to have the rotating protector like they have in racing to clear the lens up. Then maybe the entry heating was damaging the lens protector? They could fix that by using quartz glass or other high temp glass. Now, burning gridfins doesn't seem like such a bad explanation. 

Im pretty sure its the boostback burn that reduces the reentry energy keeping the lens cleaner.

Edited by Motokid600
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12 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

...

So, who's next? Are there any feasible means by which SpaceX's advancements could be shared with other launch providers? E.g., do they have patents that will expire? Could the government buy some of their IP and make it public domain? Or will ULA have to re-invent their own reuse from scratch?

I agree with the sentiment of your post entirely

My one question is thus: Have SpaceX actually made any notable advances that need to be shared in order for other companies to be able to reuse rockets? So they've done a lot of research on hypersonic engine restarts, station keeping barges and computer code to guide a rocket into a controlled landing; but it's not like any of the stuff that's actually enabled them to do what they do is top-secret patented technology. ULA and the like (the big boys) haven't got reusability because, until SpaceX actually demonstrated its possibility, there was no demand and so they didn't design for it. It's just a matter of time before other companies (my money would be on Blue Origin) start coming out with reusable launchers, and then slowly the big boys will grab onto the idea too. 

Edited by Steel
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