Quote:
Originally Posted by Startrek
I thought Elon believes in reusability ?
Plenty of reusable components in SN15 ?
Do they need monuments for test vehicles ?
Oh but then again it’s Elon Musk , he does things left field
My 2 cents ......
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The engines were removed before it was retired. I believe the overall program schedule forced Elon's hand, he needs to get an orbital flight done by the end of the year, because NASA is tying a refueling proof of concept payment to an orbital flight.
Now that the HLA contract is safe, it is more than just Mars in his sites.
It was just practical. It is hard to have large expensive cranes working around the Pad area while thinking about a launch in the near term. Stacking the Integration Tower is a priority, as is finishing the Orbital Fuel Farm infrastructure.
They may fly SN16 but my bet is that it is also a lower priority now, after all they proved the design works and can land, what does he gain by doing It again in the same way?
Reusability is one aspect, but these individual ships are pretty cheap compared to SLAs. Get to orbit, and back, is the new focus, I believe. Success at that puts any competitors way behind.