http://arstechnica.com/science/2017/01/spacex-may-be-about-to-launch-its-final-expendable-rocket/
After successfully returning to flight on January 14, SpaceX will make its next launch from Cape Canaveral no earlier than January 30. With this mission from a new pad at Launch Complex 39A, SpaceX will loft the EchoStar 23 communications satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. This is a heavy satellite, weighing 5.5 metric tons, and getting it out to about 40,000 kilometers from the surface of the Earth will require pretty much all of the lift capacity of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. This would leave almost no propellant for the Falcon 9 rocket to fire its engines to slow down, make a controlled descent through the Earth's atmosphere, and attempt a difficult landing on a drone ship.
On Saturday, in response to a question on Twitter, SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk confirmed that the upcoming EchoStar launch will therefore indeed be expendable. "Future flights will go on Falcon Heavy or the upgraded Falcon 9," he added. In other words, in the future such heavy payloads will either be launched on the more powerful Falcon Heavy (consisting of three Falcon 9 cores, designed for return), or a slightly more powerful variant of the Falcon 9 rocket. Although SpaceX may launch one or two more expendable rockets, Musk is saying the plan here onward is to try and launch everything on reusable boosters.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday January 23 2017, @04:48PM
Or SpaceX gets paid a certain amount to put X satellites or Y kilograms in orbit within a timeframe (months typically, possibly years for big customers like Iridium), and they figure out how to minimize the costs and decide whether to attempt true reusability. And they are on the hook partially for exploding rockets.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday January 23 2017, @07:31PM
And they are on the hook partially for exploding rockets.
Who is they? The customer or SpaceX. I believe SpaceX and their insurers paid for the last payload lots.
Insurance all around is probably the norm.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday January 23 2017, @07:48PM
I meant SpaceX, which had the option of paying $50 million in the last incident.
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=16/09/05/0223225 [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]