SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for historic launch

Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by mabbo on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @09:54AM (#28444885)

Interesting choice by SpaceX to use their booster B1062.

One would presume that, given the profile of this launch, they will definitely pick the booster that they have the absolute most confidence in. And so they didn't choose a brand-new-from-the-factory booster. They picked B1062, which has flown twice already.

It's not a real champ like 1051 which has flown 10 times and may have picked up some age-related defects. But it's also not likely to have any serious build flaws, since it's survived launch twice already without any problems.

I imagine this is the same reason they pushed NASA so hard to let them use re-flown boosters for their human launches. A decade ago, it would be an insane thought, but using previously-flown hardware reduces the risk.

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by aero-glide2 on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:25AM (#28445262)

According to Elon, insurance rates decrease after first launch. So the insurers think the same too.

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by tomschlick on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:18AM (#28445179)

Yeah its kind of insane that we ever did it any other way. Its akin to buying a car that no human has ever driven outside of a test lab and taking it on a cross country road trip.

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by WastingMyTime89 on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @11:13AM (#28445845)

Except it's not trivial at all to land back a booster and rockets are used far closer to the limit of their physical tolerance than cars. It's not too dissimilar to how F1 engines used to last only one race but are now engineered to last much longer.

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by mabbo on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:49AM (#28445550)

Except that if the car breaks down, people maybe die.

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by mberning on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:00AM (#28444958)

It’s a very interesting approach but makes some sense. When it comes to failures the two big cohorts are “crib deaths” and “old age”. By picking something that flew twice they are able to pick a machine still early in its life cycle but survived adolescence.

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by lallysingh on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:05AM (#28445013)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve

It's well understood.

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by spywaregorilla on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:26AM (#28445271)

Is B1062 a proven design or literally the same physical thing?

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by wlesieutre on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:37AM (#28445408)

Both are the "Falcon 9 Block 5" version. Earlier in the Falcon 9's history they were constantly iterating on the design, but NASA's certification for human spaceflight required them to make seven flights on the same design.

So it's both a proven design, and they're reusing one that has flown before. But not the most heavily reused one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9_Block_5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_first-stage_b...

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by sebazzz on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:52AM (#28445591)

Note that even within Falcon 9 Block 5 there are changes to make reusability easier and cheaper. The earlier Block 5 are not as easy to reuse as later Block 5. ("Pain in the ass" as mentioned in Elon in the conversation with Tim Dodd[0])

[0]: https://everydayastronaut.com/starbase-tour-and-interview-wi...

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by NortySpock on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:42AM (#28445464)

B1062 is the serial number of a particular booster that SpaceX has in its fleet of boosters. So "the same physical thing", as in "we are flying the plane with this particular tail number"

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by mabbo on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:51AM (#28445574)

Yes, what you said. Sorry to the above, I should have been clearer.

I'm so deep into the rocketry nerd-world I've fallen victim to this xkcd: https://xkcd.com/2501/

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by spywaregorilla on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @08:28AM (#28456073)

Haha no worries. Is it obvious that a rocket run 10 times is safer than a rocket run 2 times? To my uninformed mind I would think there's an obvious tradeoff in proven functionality vs. accumulated damage from launches.

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by mbrubeck on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:32AM (#28445353)

They are reusing the same physical engine.

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Re:SpaceX rolls Inspiration4 Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for ... by duskwuff on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @01:33PM (#28447484)

They're reusing the whole rocket, not just the engine. In many SpaceX launches, you can see the carbon deposits left on the side of the rocket from its previous flights.

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