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SpaceX is attempting a huge feat in spacecraft engineering. It is seeking to land the first stage of its Falcon 9-R rocket on a floating platform at sea. Normally this would end up at the bottom of the ocean. If successful, SpaceX will shake the rocket launch market, by shaving millions of dollars off launch costs.
Today’s rockets are one shot wonders. They burn up fuel in a few minutes and splash down into terrestrial oceans, having put their payload on the right trajectory. This is wasteful and that is why scientists have dreamed of building reusable launch vehicles.
The holy grail of rocket launchers is a concept referred to as the single stage to orbit (SSTO) vehicle. The idea is to use a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) which has the capability to deliver a payload to orbit, re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and land, where it can then be refuelled. The process can then be repeated with a short turnaround.
https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-reusable-rockets-are-so-hard-to-make-36036
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12 2015, @02:52AM
Actually, manufacturing rocket engines is not cheap. It takes time. That's where most of the savings come from - no need to manufacture the rocket against and again. Base material costs don't matter as much as manufacturing part.
Making them reusable would make them heavy
I think SpaceX is countering that idea already.
Anyway, old rockets were not reusable because guiding them for a landing was simply not practical at all which would increase mass.. Only modern computers make this possible (and I'm talking last 10-years of computers, not last quarter).
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday January 12 2015, @05:11AM
Rocket engine manufacturing costs are coming down though. Hybrid additive / subtractive machines are maturing, and greatly facilitate the production of otherwise difficult geometries in any alloy desired.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek