Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

The SpaceX recoverable first stage - how much does the landing legs and guidance gear add to the weight and what percentage of empty weight.?

Update:

And having a link to a source would be nice

2 Answers

Relevance
  • ?
    Lv 7
    5 years ago

    Well it is a considerable weight.

    Not to mention the fuel that is carried to slow it down for a soft landing.

    That is weight that had to be lifted at lift-off -- and it could have been used to get the rocket to a higher orbit.

    And it is not just the legs, and the mechanism to deploy them and lock them in place.

    The savings in re-using the first stage also have to off-set against the cost of refurbishing after each flight. Which includes having a barge out in the Atlantic Ocean.

    The lessons learned from the Space Shuttle is that --

    a) the cost of refurbishment can exceed the cost of building a brand new rocket.

    b) raises the risk of a catastrophic failure.

  • spot a
    Lv 7
    5 years ago

    Landing upright is a stupid idea. A good parachute system and a carefully planned launch will allow it to touch down on land by parachute, saving leg weight, guidance system and landing fuel which allows more weight to be launched

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.