I don't believe it's likely that we'll see recovery of an orbital velocity stage anytime soon.
Just look at how much larger the first stage (mass almost all propellant) is compared to the second stage (large fraction of the mass is the payload).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation
Oh, I wouldn't be so pessimistic.
"Considering trying to bring upper stage back on Falcon Heavy demo flight for full reusability. Odds of success low, but maybe worth a shot." - Elon Musk [1]
[1]https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/847882289581359104
Remember, everyone said they would never land the first stage....
I understand it's a very different beast, but why do you think this is so much harder technologically? We bring things back from orbital velocity routinely, indeed much more frequently than anyone landed a rocket vertically prior to SpaceX.
I wonder how many people at SpaceX are cleared to know what the payload is. What are the finer points of payload integration in such a situation?
Does Elon even know what his own company just launched?
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NRO_launches#/media/...
Of course, that would presume that a foreign entity would trust a US company for sensitive payloads in the first place, but just a thought I had as corporations become multi-national, global entities.
No explicit foreign governments in the list and I don't know if there is any kind of inspection of what gets sent to orbit.
Do they just put it through a car wash and re-fill for next time?
Is everything reusable on the first stage?
"It's a rocket - of course it's going to get dirty!"
13:38 in the video "Falcon X is delivering the, National Reconnaissance office's satellite to orbit right now"
The webcast host may not (I'd guess he probably doesn't) know what the satellite does or its final orbit. He does mechanical design. I'd bet they keep that information compartmentalized within SpaceX so only the operations personnel who need to know would know.
It's worth noting that the very existence of the National Reconnaissance Office was classified until 1992, although it leaked out to the public in the 70s. They're a bit less secretive now.
Wonder if they took the octopus of the patches
I can't even imagine trying to steer a rocket to turn it around, with an open top, while it's in the exhaust of another rocket! It's amazing.
The launch and landing happened around 7 am local time, and my house is only a few miles from the landing zone. So, I'm taking my morning shower, and I hear the boom. I'm thinking "Sounds like a SpaceX landing or a rapid unplanned disassembly". Then my houseguest from out-of-town yells into the bathroom: "David, I think something just hit the house!".
Me: "No, hun, that's what a rocket landing sounds like. Go check the internet, I'm pretty sure we're okay."
Best of luck to SpaceX, and thank you for not launching (and landing) any earlier in the morning!
https://www.docdroid.net/xfNMCgz/draft-supplemental-ea-space...
Beautiful video in any case. It's fun to see the first stage engine cut off, separate, flip over, and the second stage accelerates away.
