Interesting comments.
I still maintain that efforts and investment put into modifying the second
stage components to be more useful subassemblies for interplanetary
projects, fuel depots, habitats etc. and adding orbital maneuverability (
slow and simple) would be much more beneficial /cost effective use of
stuff already in orbit than putting the effort into getting the stage back
to earth in re-usable or reconditionable shape.
The major cost by far of material in orbit is getting it there n the first
place. Deorbiting and landing essentially throws away 99+% of the cost of
the flight.
On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 8:18 AM, James Fackert <jimfackert@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The difficulty in shedding all the energy to return the second stage to
earth intact begs the question:
Why waste all the work?
Figure out a way to harvest the materials in orbit to do useful stuff,
like build a moon ship or major parts for one.
That might mean designing the second stage for easy repurposing, which
might be easier than designing it for reentry and reusability.
jim fackert