
Why SpaceX Needs to Land a Rocket on a Floating Drone - T-A
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-15/why-spacex-needs-to-land-a-rocket-on-a-floating-drone
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danielvf
Amazingly enough this article misses the primary reason that ship landings are
still useful even with land landings are possible - you can use way less fuel,
since you can position the ship near where the first stage was going to fall
anyway, rather than having the rocket fly back to to pad. Using less fuel for
the landing means that you can use that fuel to lift a heavier payload.

Of course with the trickier landings, smaller landing targets, saltwater, and
additional transportation risks, I'd expect landings on droneships to be only
used when land is not an option.

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SEJeff
Yup and while launchpads are at a serious premium, space in the entire ocean
is not. They could in theory launch many rockets on the same pad over the
course of a few days and land them all on separate "drone transport ships".

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toomuchtodo
> Yup and while launchpads are at a serious premium, space in the entire ocean
> is not. They could in theory launch many rockets on the same pad over the
> course of a few days and land them all on separate "drone transport ships".

Or combine land and sea landings; Falcon Heavy boosters will return to the
cape, the central core will land downrange on a barge.

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dTal
I thought "floating drone" in the title referred to something like a massive
airborne quadcopter. Now _that_ would be something!

