On 10/9/2017 6:48 PM, Doug Jones (Redacted sender randome for DMARC) wrote:
You don't land the big shiny expensive rocket at the LZ, you sacrifice some payload performance and drop one or more reentry vehicles with parafoil landing systems- expendable, far cheaper than the rocket, and redundant.
On 10/9/2017 2:54 PM, Steve Traugott wrote:
I don't think Elon intended it as such, but the potential for point-to-point with precision landing is a military wakeup call. It's not unusual for even mainstream units to train as if they will be deployed to bare bases without resupply for 30 days (was in one of those myself in a previous life, scary as heck to think about, but when you're young you generally don't). Keep in mind that in an asymmetric scenario, you might still be able to keep the bad guys away from the big shiny rocket long enough to turn it after resupply does arrive. Questions include what payload capacity might be available in a point-to-point configuration compared to a C-17.
But yeah, heck of a ride.
Steve
