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Recent posts

Is This the Most Important Supreme Court Case of the Century? BuckGalaxy February 22, 2026 8:56 pm (CurrentEvents)

Supreme Court tries to do Trump a favor BuckGalaxy February 20, 2026 10:58 am (CurrentEvents)

Role reversal ER February 20, 2026 7:58 am (Off-Topic)

When Will This War End? The Question Is Meaningless. BuckGalaxy February 15, 2026 5:56 pm (CurrentEvents)

AI progress RL February 14, 2026 1:59 pm (Space/Science)

A Rubicon of Sorts ER February 12, 2026 5:33 pm (Space/Science)

Somebody help me out with telephone games. ER February 12, 2026 5:00 pm (CurrentEvents)

"Trump in heels" leads America's surrender in the global information war. BuckGalaxy February 11, 2026 12:08 pm (Flame)

Why do I do this to myself? podrock February 11, 2026 9:49 am (CurrentEvents)

Bad Musk Moon Rising BuckGalaxy February 10, 2026 12:07 pm (Space/Science)

Latinexus DEE-Fense ER February 9, 2026 6:48 pm (CurrentEvents)

Did we detect an exploding primordial black hole? RL February 7, 2026 5:29 pm (Space/Science)

Reusable Falcon 9 first stage? September 23, 2011 7:00 pm TB

Some interesting stuff in this FAA permit application.

The Grasshopper RLV consists of a Falcon 9 Stage 1 tank, a Merlin-1D engine, four steel landing legs, and a steel support structure. Carbon overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs), which are filled with either nitrogen or helium, are attached to the support structure. The Merlin-1D engine has a maximum thrust of 122,000 pounds. The overall height of the Grasshopper RLV is 106 feet, and the tank height is 85 feet.

The propellants used in the Grasshopper RLV include a highly refined kerosene fuel, called RP-1, and liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer. The Grasshopper RLV has a maximum operational propellant load of approximately 6,900 gallons; however, the propellant loads for any one test would often be lower than the maximum propellant load. Even when the maximum propellant load is used, the majority of the propellant would remain unburned and would serve as ballast to keep the thrust-to-weight ratio low.

Back in the day, Phil Bono had designs for recoverable Saturn V upper stages that would land vertically on the ground.

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