Jeff Thornburg
👤 PersonAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And we did that because we didn't want any excess fuel on that vehicle when it landed back.
So then what we did, the company did, the business people did, is they said, look, we're going to sell you an expendable stage or a reusable stage.
And if you do the reusable, you'll save some money.
Then the market chooses.
What did the market choose?
They chose the reusable version because it made the most financial sense.
But so there's two things.
There's a business model.
As an engineer, I have to make that system as efficient as possible, meaning there should be no unused fuel when it lands, and then let the buyer and the market choose that configuration because it makes the most financial sense, and then everybody wins.
I think that's right.
That got dropped into the ocean.
They needed that.
You got to have all the Delta V available to go to Europa.
And they'll sell that, but I think the business case people should understand is,
if you buy an expendable version, now that hardware can never be used again, and there's value associated with that hardware, so you're going to pay to basically use it all in one shot.