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Who will be the first to put a human on the Moon in this century? | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 63 comments | Search Discussion
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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday June 10 2019, @06:31PM (4 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 10 2019, @06:31PM (#853793) Journal

    I meant the SSMEs not SRBs.

    Nevertheless, you definitely make a good point.

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 10 2019, @08:06PM (3 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday June 10 2019, @08:06PM (#853840)

    The economics of reuse is debatable all up and down the scale, from plastic grocery bags vs reusable totes all the way up through rocket engines.

    Personally, I think the automotive industry has been selling bad tech for 40 years making new automobiles more and more disposable - straight economics would seem to point toward refurbishment as better for the environment AND the owners' pocketbooks.

    However, if the SSMEs were ground-up redesigned to be single use instead of multiple use, they could likely save a significant sounding amount per engine - but the engineering hours and validation testing required to do that for a manned mission rated engine probably cost more than the differential cost of hundreds, maybe thousands of engines - not to mention the program schedule impacts.

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    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday June 10 2019, @09:08PM (2 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 10 2019, @09:08PM (#853870) Journal

      SpaceX (hopefully, eventually) will launch a manned mission using reusable engines -- but new, not reused, on the manned launch.

      I tend to believe that SpaceX has shown or is close to showing the economics of re-use. The cheap launch prices. But then, we really don't know if they are making money.

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      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday July 02 2019, @03:45PM (1 child)

        by VLM (445) on Tuesday July 02 2019, @03:45PM (#862420)

        But then, we really don't know if they are making money.

        EBIDTA is, AFAIK, positive for those guys, but EBIDTA + "extravagant Research and Development expenses" is always negative for those guys, and the financial markets just keep tossing money at them, so they'll keep doing it.

        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday July 02 2019, @04:35PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 02 2019, @04:35PM (#862445) Journal

          They must think it a worthwhile investment.

          Maybe a new accounting abbreviation for the extravagant research should be created.

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