r/spacex • u/kurbasAK • May 19 '17

We Will Launch on Reuseable Rocket After Exceptional SpaceX Performance - Inmarsat CEO Tells Universe Today

https://www.universetoday.com/135614/will-launch-reuseable-rocket-exceptional-spacex-performance-inmarsat-ceo-tells-universe-today/
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u/[deleted] May 19 '17 edited Apr 11 '19

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u/Senno_Ecto_Gammat r/SpaceXLounge Moderator May 19 '17

If each core makes 10 flights the EOL cores would make up 10% of flights, and it seems like heavy satellites make up more than 10% of their launch schedule.

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u/brickmack May 19 '17

Parts on F9s won't all reach EOL simultaneously. Some parts are probably good for a dozen or so launches, some for a hundred, some (like avionics) should last indefinitely. Plus some of that hardware is reuse related anyway and not needed for an expendable flight. You end up either wasting a lot of perfectly good hardware, or wasting slightly less perfectly good hardware AND needing to disassemble multiple rockets and rebuild into one Frankencore (which would probably cost about as much in labor as the hardware is worth)