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217 points belter | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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sidcool ◴[] No.41838932[source]
Are the side boosters going to be recovered?
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benjismith ◴[] No.41838957[source]
Nope. They needed the maximum amount of thrust from those boosters in order to propel the spacecraft toward Jupiter, so they couldn't save enough fuel for the boosters to land themselves. This was the 6th flight of these boosters, so we thank them for their service!
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linotype ◴[] No.41839149[source]
Is this one of those things that’s limited by physics or at some point will these kinds of missions be doable with a mostly reusable setup?
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1. mmooss ◴[] No.41839410{3}[source]
It's limited by physics: Recovering the rockets requires counteracting gravity, which requires energy. If the energy is needed for something else - in this case for additional propulsion - then it's not available for recovery.