But seriously, I hope it's returned to SpaceX free of charge.
Also, I don't see any evidence of grid fin mounting points on the interstage recovered, unless they sheared off somehow. The mussels are deep but I don't think they'd be deep enough to cover the fairly tall mounting point which, presumably, would be very sturdy to cope with the forces involved.
Pretty incredible to have part of a F9 wash up in the UK! Although all the locals had better close their eyes and not look at it, since it's proprietary US technology. But seriously, I hope it's returned to SpaceX free of charge. I assume it has some kind of serial number marked on it somewhere that SpaceX can use to ID it?
I live closer to it than Chris B so I call dibs!I wonder if they will attempt to clean off the barnacles to get a better look at the rest of it.
BBC speculation about it being from CRS-7 are probably bunk, so much stuff growing on it that it is almost certainly an older bit. Perhaps from one of the soft-landed-to-ocean stages like CRS-3 or the first OG2 launch.
Quote from: Space Pete on 11/27/2015 09:18 amBut seriously, I hope it's returned to SpaceX free of charge. If I were SpaceX I'd worry: Have you heard of the pub on St Mary's that stole the timbers of a shipwreck to furnish their interiors?!
As far as the free return, is Elon giving free rides?