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Re:SpaceX launches first U.S. national security space mission by Ericson2314 on Monday December 24, 2018 @03:18PM (#18754065)
Did they originally intend to use a bigger rocket? It seems unlike them to throw one away at any price.
Re:SpaceX launches first U.S. national security space mission by gsnedders on Monday December 24, 2018 @03:52PM (#18754212)
SpaceX will happily sell you a single-use Falcon 9 (or Falcon Heavy) if you need the mass for your launch. Of course, one should expect to pay for the privilege.
Re:SpaceX launches first U.S. national security space mission by Ericson2314 on Wednesday December 26, 2018 @12:05PM (#18763172)
Yeah I'm curious at what price. My guess is it massively contradicts their own PR on expected number of runs and thus their opportunity cost.
Re:SpaceX launches first U.S. national security space mission by gsnedders on Thursday December 27, 2018 @03:58PM (#18772582)
I expect price-wise they're much closer to the competition there, but given they're still getting launches they can't be completely uncompetitive.

That said, remember they could potentially be using a rocket that's flown twice before (and AFAIK three launches is the most they've done so far), and as such may view the rocket as largely expendable anyway (they lose the ability to use it for re-entry experiments and to pull it down after the launch, but nothing else).

Re:SpaceX launches first U.S. national security space mission by baq on Monday December 24, 2018 @03:49PM (#18754204)
This rocket was worth billions in opportunity dollars. I’m sure not a single tear was shed.
Re:SpaceX launches first U.S. national security space mission by Ericson2314 on Wednesday December 26, 2018 @12:03PM (#18763163)
Hmm? Is the government paying billions for the launch? I doubt it.
Re:SpaceX launches first U.S. national security space mission by elihu on Monday December 24, 2018 @09:56PM (#18755583)
Perhaps they used one of their earlier rockets that are only designed to be reused a couple of times.