[AR] Re: Reusable Dragon & Grasshopper delta V (off topic)
- From: Dave McMillan <skyefire@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 17:44:49 -0400
On 7/31/2014 6:07 PM, Henry Vanderbilt wrote:
As for potential reusability issues, engines, certainly, but I'd also
take a really good look at structures, wiring, avionics, actuators -
anything that might be affected by launch acoustics/vibration, flight
aero and G loads, heating loads, reentry and landing loads, etc. I'd
expect a full launch and reentry differs in significant ways from a
test-stand firing, environment-wise.
OTOH... aren't you going to be getting a wealth of
durability/longevity data that's never really been available in rocketry
before? Being able to actually go over a post-flight first-stage core
with a fine-tooth comb, flight after flight, ought to give you a
confidence level in your engineering models that really hasn't been
achievable previously -- you'll be able to really zero on in weak
points, and also ID items that were unnecessarily over-engineered.
Any *cost* savings deriving from this will probably be very
long-term. But being able to really *see* the results of any
engineering changes, rather than inferring from telemetry data, would
seem like a hugely valuable item (to me) in increasing reliability and
confidence while also allowing for greater cost saving opportunities
through iterative incremental improvements with low risk.
I will note, however, that getting this to work for you would
require rather high flight rates, at least by today's standards.
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