On Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 4:10:03 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wed, 07 Feb 2018 00:59:30 -0500, wrote:

I am curious how carrying the extra fuel and hardware to land a
booster compares to just dropping them in the ocean and building a new
one.

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The exact cost and savings are dependent on variables that are
currently unknown, not the least of which is launch frequency.

There's an interesting discussion he

http://spacenews.com/spacexs-reusable-falcon-9-what-are-the-real-cost-savings-for-customers/

Thanks for that link. I was surprised that the fuel costs for the first stage was quoted to be only $200-300k. I had to look up the engine technology and saw that they are LOX/RP (kerosene). That makes sense... it's a return to the Saturn V technology and what the Russian have never stopped using..

Really interesting stuff. I never got to see a Saturn V go up, but I did see the next to last shuttle launch. They are supposed to be mild compared to a Saturn V, which reportedly would break windows on the mainland. I'll make the trip to see a Falcon go.