Comment Re:The catch sometimes seems like a bad idea (Score 1) 34
Ok so catching a rocket means that the rocket doesn't need legs and probably some other heavy or expensive items. The commentators declared that SpaceX will only attempt the catch under perfect conditions because they don't want to take a chance of damaging the pad, ala New Glenn. That makes a lot of sense. This is spaceflight we're talking about. Big rockets, lots of explosive bits. "Perfect" is something will rarely occur, which means the boosters and upper stages will be splashed. That makes everything way more expensive and prevents SpaceX from keeping to their aggressive launch / catch / refurb fast turn-around cycle. Am I missing something?
"Perfect" is something that takes practice and refinement to happen reliably. It took quite a few launches before the Falcon 9 booster could reliable land too. There is a lot more scrutiny directed at Starship's refinement process than there was for Falcon 9. Falcon 9 was assumed to be expendable and successful at that. SpaceX started doing practice landings as a bonus activity. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't. But with progressive refinement it reached the point where nearly every launch ended with a successful landing and the whole equation changed. Starship's trials are viewed more sceptically because there is the notion that it HAS to recover everything in order to be successful.