I think this euphemism ("flight-proven") is alredy in use for quite a while...
Personally I don't like the word "impending". Quite often it's followed by the word "doom"...
Any chatter on a launch date for this one? EchoStar is set, so what should we expect for the range turn-around 2 weeks? It seems like that would put his with a NET of 26 March.
@SpaceX's Shotwell: Took us 4 months to refurbish the stage that we'll refly at end of this month. Going forward, it'll be sub that.#SATShow
Quote@SpaceX's Shotwell: Took us 4 months to refurbish the stage that we'll refly at end of this month. Going forward, it'll be sub that.#SATShowhttps://twitter.com/pbdes/status/839598801375608832Edit: suggest we limit discussion here to SES-10 and subsequent improvements belong better in the re-usable section block 5 thread: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42465.msg1652024#msg1652024
I don't think that the engines are a problem for a static fire, presuming that there is no damage to the plumbing or tank integrity. The issue is more overall soundness of the vehicle: Will the stage survive prolonged vibrations (IIRC, the main engine burn is ~150 seconds) plus the aerodynamic stresses transit through various atmospheric layers (in both directions) up to hypersonic speeds, both powered and unpowered? I can't blame SpaceX for checking every rivet and every joint twice at a microscopic level (and possibly with an x-ray) before risking a paying customer's payload!
So, Echostar 23 is out of the queue. How soon can we expect SpaceX to give a launch date estimate for SES-10? I'm expecting to hear a time frame between 3/30 and 4/2 myself.
Have we heard anything regarding if landing will be attempted on this mission? (of course just the launch is historic enough, but it would be interesting to hear.)
Yes. At the recent Sat conference, Gwynne said they'd be recovering this one as well. They'll always recover unless mission is mass/orbit constrained like this past Echostar launch.