ELI5. If the weight of rocket fuel is so important, why do SpaceX boosters waste a ton of fuel landing themselves?

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ELI5. If the weight of rocket fuel is so important, why do SpaceX boosters waste a ton of fuel landing themselves?

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17 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

because the cost of the booster is more than the cost of the extra fuel needed for them to land themselves.

one could maybe make an argument that the payload has to be smaller bc of the extra fuel but apparently the trade off is worth it

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