Questions tagged [reuse]
Questions regarding the reuse of parts or equipment.
192
questions
3
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1answer
106 views
Are any parts of Sokol suits re-used?
The Sokol spacesuit is the Russian launch and re-entry suit. They appear to be custom-made for each cosmonaut, with mission patches and nametags sewn on to the suit.
Even if the suit as a whole is ...
1
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1answer
79 views
How long it takes for the Falcon 9 payload fairings to reach the sea?
The payload fairings of Falcon 9 are released at about 3:15 min
How much time they need to fall and reach the sea?
And what is their maximum speed while reentry?
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vote
1answer
89 views
Falcon 9 landing stages
I know the first stage of Falcon 9 separates at about 2:30 min and it lands at about 8:30 min
But what are the distinct stages of the descent? Like deorbit burns, grid fin deployment, leg deployment ...
4
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0answers
77 views
How much cheaper are pressure fed engines compared to other cycles (e.g. staged combustion, gas generator, electric pump-fed)?
It's well known that pressure fed engines are mechanically simpler, and therefore cheaper than pump-fed cycles (although pressure fed has worse performance). However, I haven't found any sources that ...
9
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2answers
2k views
What happens to payload fairings of GEO launches?
Say you launch a satellite into GEO using Falcon9
The 1st stage returns
The 2nd stage is moved into graveyard orbit.
But what happens to the payload fairings?
3
votes
1answer
119 views
Does RUAG Space recover and reuse Ariane 5 and Atlas V payload fairings after splashdown?
RUAG Space is the company that manufactures payload fairings for the Ariane, Vega, Atlas V (500 series) and the upcoming Vulcan.
Back when Spacex started trying to catch the fairing without it hitting ...
3
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1answer
95 views
How many times can Falcon 9's payload fairings be reused?
Falcon 9's first stage can be reused 10 times or even 100 times.
But how about its payload fairings?
3
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2answers
595 views
Did SpaceX ever reuse payload fairings?
Did they ever reuse the payload fairings of the Falcon 9?
There are a few related questions about maximum reuses and fastest refurbishment that might be asked later I guess
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1answer
49 views
Plasma magnet drive for reusing stages
From what I understand, one of the reasons why it's impractical to recover upper stages of rockets is that they're traveling at high speeds, and methods of making them bleed off that speed (such as ...
5
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1answer
67 views
Does a published account of the economics of Russian debris shipbreaking exist?
Most Soviet and Russian rockets are/were launched from an inland site, and spent booster stages crash on the ground in sparsely populated (and frequently impoverished) rural areas.
Since the fall of ...
3
votes
1answer
94 views
What about recycling used lithium hydroxide on the Moon?
Lithium hydroxide was used to remove exhaled carbon dioxide from breathing gas during the Apollo mission.
Is there any research done how to recycle used lithium hydroxide on the Moon? Separating the ...
11
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1answer
107 views
What factors do (or are expected to) limit reuse of a Falcon 9 block 5 first stage?
SpaceX have claimed (reported here) that the Falcon 9 Block 5 first stage should be reusable up to 10 times without significant refurbishment, and up to 100 times in total. What factors are expected ...
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0answers
174 views
Will SpaceX paint over the NASA Worm on booster 1058 for its next flight?
For the Dragon Crew mission SpaceX flew a brand new booster (how declasse) B1058 and painted it with the old style NASA Worm logo.
SpaceX owns the booster and is most likely to fly it many more times ...
0
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1answer
183 views
How does re-usable boosters by SpaceX return back and land on the deck 'Of Course I still Love You'? [duplicate]
The idea was to bring back the rockets/boosters safely and re-use them for next time. How SpaceX was able to achieve this?
Intuitively there have to be multiple sensors recording and computer ...
4
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0answers
51 views
Atmospheric retro-propulsion performance of aerospike nozzles?
I’m thinking about the use of single toroidal aerospike engine for a reusable upper stage with propulsive landing capability and this question came to mind. Do aerospike nozzles even capable of retro ...
3
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0answers
72 views
What plans were made for Buran post-flight processing?
U.S. Space Shuttles underwent considerable post-processing after each flight. Gases, liquids, and payloads were removed; engines were refurbished; thermal tiles were repaired; and everything was ...
1
vote
1answer
96 views
Is present-day plumbing technology enough to make refueling of hypergol rockets safe? What about only in space?
Sadly, all of the currently commonly used chemical rocket fuels that are either hypergolic or storable are horribly toxic/corrosive/explosive. RP-1 is so safe you can pour it out of a gas can, but ...
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0answers
69 views
Have studies / worked examples, including mass figures, been published for these reentry methods for reusable upper stages?
(Related: is there a general rule of thumb for thermal protection systems?)
For a fully-reusable launch vehicle to be developed, we need a lightweight thermal protection system and method for (...
6
votes
1answer
226 views
How do ships catch fairings? Can fairings steer or do the ships do all the work?
A comment in The Pod Bay says it all:
...fourth Starlink payload launched. Booster landed on OCISLY. (Has now launched three times, LC-39A, SLC-40, SLC-4W once at each launch pad they own!)
And they ...
0
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2answers
258 views
Why was the reusability of the SSMEs so poor, and why was this considered acceptable given their purpose to launch a reusable vehicle?
The Space Shuttle Main Engines operated for around 8.5 minutes in every Shuttle launch, yet were removed from the orbiter after each flight and went through an overhaul, parts often being traded from ...
2
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0answers
45 views
Shuttle main engines RS-25, material damage on parts that needed replacement/refurbishment
Since other members wrote, that my my original question here Shuttle main engines RS-25 refurbishment/material damage was too broad I modified it to asked just one thing, while the other questions I ...
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0answers
106 views
Shuttle main engines RS-25 refurbishment/material damage
There was some thread here on Space Stack-Exchange about RS-25 refurbishment, but I am interested now, how this refurbishment look from the point of material damage of SSME hardware.
In the early ...
4
votes
3answers
152 views
Redeployable solar arrays. Do they exist? or are they being worked on?
Has it ever been done, or is anyone working on, redeployable solar arrays? In other words, a solar cell array that can be deployed in space, used for a period, and then folded up again into the ship, ...
0
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1answer
104 views
Would Sabre make a good first stage engine for a hypothetical 2-stage design?
Sabre is usually described in the context of the Skylon SSTO design but, would it make more sense to use such engines for the first stage of a two stage design?
Basically, would the air breathing ...
7
votes
3answers
491 views
Why do all recent proposed lunar landers have payloads on top?
Every recently-proposed vacuum lander I've seen has its payload as far off the ground as possible. This necessitates cranes, ladders, and elevators to get things down. (Starship may be a partial ...
4
votes
1answer
112 views
Could the SSMEs of the SLS do retro burns?
The SLS will use the main engines of the space shuttle. Are these capable of retro-burns in the upper atmosphere like SpaceX’s Merlin engines?
More broadly, could the SLS’ main engines and ...
17
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5answers
5k views
Reusable spacecraft: why still have fairings detach, instead of open/close?
Why do reusable rockets (e.g. SpaceX Falcon 9) still utilize detachable fairings? SpaceX keeps trying to find a way to recover the $6M fairings for obvious cost saving reasons, why not have them ...
8
votes
1answer
263 views
How much of the recovery system does Spacex remove from a Falcon 9 when using it in an expended manner?
Falcon 9s have a limit to how many times they can be reused, and, for the last flight of a booster they don't make it land (in one piece), and instead use all the fuel to help the payload. That way ...
5
votes
1answer
313 views
What is the Process for Re-certifying Flight Hardware?
I was reading about how we reused the water tanks because they were still within their certified life-time and had two questions:
When would a certification become VOID?
I'd assume if the water ...
55
votes
1answer
6k views
Why use water tanks from a retired Space Shuttle?
In 2015, technicians entered the retired Space Shuttle Endeavour to remove the water tanks, with the goal of reusing these tanks on ISS.
The space shuttle Endeavour is retired and on display at the ...
4
votes
2answers
384 views
Have there been any examples of re-usable rockets in the past?
I am writing a piece about re-usable rockets and I'm wondering, apart from SpaceX, have there been any re-usable rockets in the past, success or 'failure', as in didn't perform as expected.
Obviously ...
5
votes
3answers
314 views
Will the New Glenn have grid fins? Why or why not?
The January 2019 Blue Origin video New Glenn: The Road to Space shows the rocket with static fins at the bottom and four articulated fins near the top of the first stage.
Is this just notional, or ...
2
votes
1answer
227 views
Most challenging aspects of a reusable satellite scheme like this?
What would be the most challenging aspects of a reusable satellite scheme similar to the one shown in this video? For the kilo-constellations (e.g. SpaceX's StarLink with 4,500 to 7,500 satellites) ...
5
votes
2answers
355 views
Could Falcon 9 take off without launchpad
As far as I'm currently aware, the Falcon 9 block 5 does not have the capability to retract it's landing legs once they're deployed, however:
If F9 landing legs had the ability to retract themselves (...
6
votes
1answer
540 views
how reusable are electric pump fed rocket engines like Rutherford Engines of Electron rocket?
In electric pump fed rocket engines, propellants are pumped by two electric motors. So there is just one combustion chamber and that is the main combustion chamber. I guess electric pumps are fairly ...
7
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2answers
1k views
What is the most expensive part of a rocket?
I want to say fuel is, but this Question Why isn't stainless steel used for rocket engines? has got me thinking about cost in the long run.
What part commonly found on most rockets cost the most ...
3
votes
2answers
324 views
Is the BFB/super heavy likely to have an easier time landing than the Falcon 9 booster?
Despite the deep throttle of the Merlin 1D engine, the weight of the Falcon 9 booster is less than the force of a single Merlin engine firing at minimum throttle (See here). This means that the Falcon ...
3
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1answer
223 views
What's the shortest time to reflight of a Falcon 9 booster?
What has been the shortest time in between the landing of a Falcon 9 booster, and SpaceX reusing them on a different mission?
3
votes
1answer
283 views
What Apollo equipment could be salvaged from the Moon?
If humans returned to the original Apollo landing sites, what previously left-behind equipment could reasonably be salvaged as part of a future mission or colony? That is, is everything that was left ...
0
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2answers
96 views
When does reusable lower rocket stages become benificial?
Can lower stages of current rockets be replaced to reusable and more efficient boosters with parachutes? Would reusable rocket stages save money?
3
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0answers
52 views
Where are all the space capsules? [duplicate]
My understanding is that space capsules, at least until recently with the private companies, have been single-use. Including the Soyuz capsules that Russia keeps using. Which means there could ...
5
votes
1answer
259 views
Why was the water-landed Falcon 9 B5-B1050 towed backwards for retrieval?
The rocket was apparently recovered by attaching a towing line to the heavy, lower end (with the engines) and pulling at backwards.
This seems counterintuitive to me, as this pushes the water into ...
5
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0answers
171 views
Purging process of a rocket engine
Does spacex purge Falcon 9 engines after landing ? If so, which gas is used for purging?
9
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1answer
590 views
Final results on Space Shuttle SRB reuse goal?
One of the stated goals of the Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters (SRBs) was their re-usability and cost savings from such reuse. I know that many of them were reused, but in the end, how successful ...
4
votes
1answer
199 views
Satellite retrieval, fix and deploy possible remotely?
Is there any satellites that are designed to come back to Earth for repairs or upgrades and then be deployed again? Would there be any benefits to creating a capsule or inflatable heat shield to go on ...
2
votes
0answers
61 views
How to make a orbital launch tube work?
Normal rockets would not work in a pressurized tube, but could a stage be made for the diagonal launch tube to save fuel and weight? Can the bottom stage be nuclear powered?
Unlike the piston launch ...
19
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4answers
3k views
What would be necessary in order for us to achieve a single stage to orbit, reusable rocket?
I have read articles and seen videos explaining why an SSTO (Single Stage To Orbit) rocket* is not possible. But I was wondering... What would be required to achieve this? Answers can be literally ...
10
votes
1answer
290 views
Are there proven economic advantages to rocket re-usability?
Of course, you save a lot of material, but I have heard some Russian rocket people say that that the main cost in rocket comes from the manufacture and testing. And for reusable rockets, you need to ...
4
votes
5answers
347 views
What if anything makes launching a recovered SpaceX rocket from a drone ship implausible?
Since SpaceX lands their rockets on drone ships (aka ASDS, barges), I'm curious what if anything would prevent rockets from being relaunched from the ship.
Obviously the ship would need ...
6
votes
1answer
163 views
Is the atmosphere a positive or a negative for reusability?
Does the atmosphere provide a benefit or detriment in terms of fuel economy for rockets that take off and land back on Earth? We know that the atmosphere plays a large role in helping slow down ...
