As in, can the landing legs (and other systems) be attached, relatively easily, to a first stage core that is normally expendable?Or does the stage have to be specifically manufactured for reusability, in a somewhat separate production line?
you could say the grid fins (and paraphernalia) and the gas thrusters have to be specially built into the interstage. not sure different styles of interstage can just snap on and off?another consideration is the gas storage for the pneumatic rams of the legs, i'd say that probably the biggest item that would be a chore to swap on and off.
Quote from: Pipcard on 10/18/2015 07:50 pmAs in, can the landing legs (and other systems) be attached, relatively easily, to a first stage core that is normally expendable?Or does the stage have to be specifically manufactured for reusability, in a somewhat separate production line?The stages are all manufactured to be compatible with reusability. Sometimes they're expended. Attachment points for the legs are on all the stages.Legs are added at the launch site.But yeah, the reusable stages and the expended stages are almost identical, just that one has the reusable equipment like legs and fins and the others don't.It has been this way since the first v1.1 launch.