Re:After years of setbacks, NASA’s SLS moon rocket is ready ...
by inasio on Monday August 29, 2022 @12:55AM
(#32634921)
> Getting the Starship itself to survive reentry and landing in good enough condition to fly again without major refurbishment is another story. Something like that has never been achieved before
Didn't the space shuttle used to do that?
Re:After years of setbacks, NASA’s SLS moon rocket is ready ...
by Dylan16807 on Monday August 29, 2022 @01:29AM
(#32635060)
No. Shuttle needed major refurbishment.
Re:After years of setbacks, NASA’s SLS moon rocket is ready ...
by jaybrendansmith on Monday August 29, 2022 @12:20AM
(#32634767)
While I agree with your point, I would only suggest ... compared to what? Let's say SpaceX cannot make Starship reusable. Will it really cost $4 Billion Dollars to create a Starship + Booster? Still cheaper than the SLS...
Re:After years of setbacks, NASA’s SLS moon rocket is ready ...
by btilly on Monday August 29, 2022 @09:59AM
(#32638332)
You're suggesting that they won't be able to do it simply because it hasn't been done?
Do you have any idea how many firsts they've put up? The craziest was reusable boosters.
For this one the problems to solve are fairly well-known. There is no particular reason to believe that it will be harder than what they already do.
Some of that sounds like unreasonable optimism.
Given the track record of SpaceX, it's safe to assume that Starship will eventually fly and that the lower stage will eventually be reusable. Getting the Starship itself to survive reentry and landing in good enough condition to fly again without major refurbishment is another story. Something like that has never been achieved before. It's plausible that SpaceX will make it happen, but it's also plausible that it won't work. Then Starship will be simply an expendable upper stage that's too big and too expensive for the purpose.