Space Force

Falcon 9 first stage

Comment: This is a big savings in advancing the use of previously flown boosters. pl

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/14/space-force-clears-spacex-to-reuse-rockets-for-military-missions-.html

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One Response to Space Force

  1. rjh says:

    The re-use of boosters was approved in a contract modification made in September 2020 for this and the next GPS launch. The news is that this launch is still scheduled for 17 June a little after 4PM Eastern time.

    STP-2 used a previously flown booster, but STP-2 was a military research payload not a national security payload.

    USSF-2 is currently slated to use new boosters, not re-used boosters. I assume schedule and availability considerations were significant.

    The decision on re-use is a made launch by launch based on schedule and other risk evaluations. As SpaceX gets better and better field proven results the analysis will shift more and more to schedule and availability considerations. (The national security customers are much more concerned about reliability and schedule. They are accustomed to highly expensive equipment and services.)

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