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orbital maintence tools? a threat?

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Kim Christensen:

--- Quote from: RJSV on December 31, 2023, 03:13:12 am ---   More options, and inspiring landings ...to the extent that they look like fake landings, (by playing video backwards).
--- End quote ---

The landing legs are not deployed on launch... Also, the payload and upper stage which are present on launch, are not attached to the booster upon landing. So zero chance that the video is simply reversed.
Plus, the booster lands at a different location from the launch site.

coppice:

--- Quote from: Dan123456 on December 23, 2023, 05:09:29 am ---I think you miss my point on SpaceX’s boosters. The question is are they really the same booster that first launched? Or do they just replace every single part after each launch and slap the same number on it and just call it the same booster?

--- End quote ---
I like the way SpaceX save money and emphasise the look of reuse by the simple step of never cleaning the boosters between missions, so they gradually fade to black (well, dark grey by the 19th mission, where the recent booster was lost to sea-sickbness).

coppice:

--- Quote from: Kim Christensen on December 31, 2023, 04:42:04 pm ---
--- Quote from: RJSV on December 31, 2023, 03:13:12 am ---   More options, and inspiring landings ...to the extent that they look like fake landings, (by playing video backwards).
--- End quote ---

The landing legs are not deployed on launch... Also, the payload and upper stage which are present on launch, are not attached to the booster upon landing. So zero chance that the video is simply reversed.
Plus, the booster lands at a different location from the launch site.

--- End quote ---
I know its real, but the fakest seeming thing about those landings is how close to the ground they are when you hear the sonic boom. I know the sound takes a while to arrive, but damn those things are still dropping fast quite close to the ground.

Kim Christensen:

--- Quote from: coppice on December 31, 2023, 04:50:53 pm ---I know the sound takes a while to arrive, but damn those things are still dropping fast quite close to the ground.
--- End quote ---

Firing the the engines at the last possible moment is the most efficient method, not to mention being more impressive as well.  :D

HalFET:

--- Quote from: u666sa on December 21, 2023, 08:33:00 pm ---Nah. Because tech in 5 years, gets old. We talking about space age tech. Spy images and stuff. So it's pointless to sustain it, really. In 5 years your new satellite is old, in 10 years it is obsolete. Space trash really.

--- End quote ---
Most space hardware is extremely conservative and still designed/manufactured using components that were common in the late 80s/early 90s. So the hardware in question is already obsolete from a commercial point of view before you even begin breadboarding. You'll often even find discrete solutions that you wouldn't even consider using on earth due to harsh environment requirements that might seem non-obvious. So if we leave SpaceX out of consideration for a while, the obsolescence cycle looks somewhat different when comparing it to consumer hardware.

On the other hand, most designs are also quite modular, so as long as the cabling harness and no structural components are damaged, I'd consider a satellite very salvageable. Especially if you could upgrade it with newer hardware that's slightly more power efficient, that might very well compensate for the reduced efficiency of the solar panels and batteries. A lot of missions are also "simply" a bunch of modules tied to a standard platform of sorts, so if you'd make those connections easier to swap out you could quite literally do something like take an old earth observation instrument off the satellite and install a new one and get your launch weight down to a fraction of the cost of launching a new satellite. So there's a potential market for it, and it makes sense, the question is if the economics and technical feasibility make sense.

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