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Re:SpaceX just landed a rocket on a drone ship for the first... by CydeWeys on Saturday April 09, 2016 @05:29PM (#11463438)
Good point. Solid fuel rockets are quite different in construction than liquid fuel rockets. They are less worth reusing because what is left isn't as valuable as a liquid fuel rocket, but they are also easier to reuse post-dunking because they aren't as complex. It's still a wash for them.

Still, it says something that no actor has ever even bothered attempting to reuse a liquid fueled rocket that is landed in water. The only successful track record of reuse of liquid fuel rockets is the space shuttle, and those landed on a runway. And that isn't preserving the fuel tanks for reuse, mind you, just the engines.

Re:SpaceX just landed a rocket on a drone ship for the first... by stcredzero on Saturday April 09, 2016 @05:35PM (#11463460)
Solid fuel rockets are quite different in construction than liquid fuel rockets.

Hell, when they fell into the water, the impact bent the sections into ovals. They actually had a giant vise that they used to bend those things back into round. (Feynmann noted this in one of his autobiographical books.)