13
NASA Administrator seems to hint at 2nd Stage recovery (www.youtube.com)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by ptfrd@sh.itjust.works to c/spacex@sh.itjust.works
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Quote from Bill Nelson:

... SpaceX, by having the return of the first stage, has brought the cost down significantly. That has affected the entire launch industry. We'll be seeing attempts at bringing the second stage down on some missions.

The key sentence is (currently) 52 minutes and 48 seconds into the video. Approximately 49 minutes after the event started.

No other mention is made of this. Should we assume he's specifically referring to the 2nd Stage of the Falcon 9? What is the likelihood that he is mistaken? Could he just be thinking of the existing deorbit procedure? Or could SpaceX be putting parachutes on some of their 2nd Stages in the near future?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] ptfrd@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 months ago

I for one welcome even just the hope that it might happen!

Is the 2nd Stage too heavy for a net? It's probably too much to hope that Ms. Tree comes out of retirement, right?

Any chance they could use second-hand dragon parachutes?

[-] Bimfred@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

It's more an issue of how you'll get the second stage to survive re-entry at orbital velocity. Which the current F9 upper stage can't pull off, seeing how it doesn't have heat shields. Bolting heat shields on it probably isn't happening, the added mass would cut into payload capacity too much.

[-] pennomi@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

One can hope! But it’s more likely he’s referring to Starship, no?

[-] ptfrd@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

My guesses

  • 15% he's talking, confusingly, about Starship
  • 25% he's mistaken in some other way
  • 60% this is actually the plan
[-] ptfrd@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago

My updated guesses, after seeing the other comments, and some further thought.

  • 25% he's talking, confusingly, about Starship
  • 25% he's mistaken in some other way
  • 50% this is actually the plan
[-] burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 8 months ago

Yeah, that's gotta be it.

this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2024
13 points (100.0% liked)

SpaceX

1936 readers
18 users here now

A community for discussing SpaceX.

Related space communities:

Memes:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
few@sh.itjust.works