
SpaceX’s latest booster back home as company mulls pricing, proof tests - ansible
http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/06/03/spacexs-latest-booster-back-home-as-company-mulls-pricing-proof-tests/
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curtis
_The second stage of the Falcon 9, powered by a single Merlin engine, will
continue to be expendable on each mission. SpaceX is working on a scheme to
recover the clamshell-like payload fairing mounted on the nose of the rocket
in a bid to reuse that part along with the first stage._

Recovering the payload fairing seems rather absurd -- that's got to be one of
the cheapest parts of the whole rocket. However, if you can recover the
fairing, I suspect you could also recover the rocket engine by separating it
from the second stage and putting it inside the fairing and then recovering
the rocket engine and fairing together. That would require some extra hardware
to separate the engine from the stage and then move it into the fairing. None
of these things should be hard however.

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greglindahl
The faring currently separates during the first 2nd stage burn -- the 2nd
stage engine isn't done until a later burn to get the payload into an actual
orbit.

