>>10871010Nigga who cares?
Here is what we can assume based off known info:
They've already used refurbished fairings at least one time, this was prior to them having made a catch on Mr. Steven (now Ms. Tree). We can presume that they've only done this once because it takes longer to fit them, and confirm their structural integrity hasn't be compromised. We also know that the initial retrieved fairings have had several iterations (see: the nose tips of the fairings having ablative material and tougher material below that now). We also know that they are coated in a hydrophobic compound so that water damage is minimized.
Obviously this means that they can reuse at least some of the new fairings, even if they can't be caught. It just means taking longer and spending more money than just catching it does.
Catching a single fairing is, according to Elon, a 3 million dollar cost savings. So far there has been 10 launches, and two captures this year. Several of these launches had no capture attempt. Presumably because Ms. Tree was on the wrong coast at the time. Since being repositioned to the East coast we are able to infer that most of the launches for the rest of the year are now going to be from SLC-40 and SLC-39a.
This means, as of right now, Ms. Tree (Mr. Steven) has saved SpaceX 6 million dollars. Accounting for fuel, manpower, and the lease, there is zero chance that Ms. Tree comes anywhere near this figure in terms of operational expenditures.
>inb4 how do you knowI used to work on a 30 footer where we'd take rich retards out to the Gulf and catch fish. Our overhead was virtually nil except for when parts broke, and when that happened it wasn't my problem because I didn't have a share in the vessel. If Ms. Tree costs even half a million dollars to operate each year I'll be staggered.
The process pays for itself, and if SpaceX ramps up its launches for Starlink (which they will) we could feasibly see a number of vessels out there.
