[exabrial]

Dumb question I'm sure has been asked... we've been throwing stuff into the sea for awhile then going and picking it up later as it's bobbing gently in the waves. Why not just have some inflatable buoys that deploy in the water and have it float? Catching it seems pretty difficult, albeit pretty sweet.

[2trill2spill]

My guess would be to avoid the salt water. NASA had to make significant changes to the Solid Rocket Boosters because they landed in the water[1].

[1]: https://llis.nasa.gov/lesson/836

[ogre_codes]

By catching the farings, SpaceX pockets $6m per launch. If they catch them, they can reuse them 5+ times. If they get dumped in the ocean, they might be able to use them a second time, but the salt water degrades them so more than a couple launches is unlikely. So each time a faring hits the water, it costs SpaceX $500,000 – $1 million dollars or more. At 22 launches per year, that adds up in a hurry.

[Robotbeat]

First: saltwater damage. Ever tried to run a car or a laptop or an airplane after it was dunked in saltwater? Hardening for saltwater immersion isn’t always practical and will always add some weight.

Second: They already do float. They recover them quickly (& sometimes reuse them) if they miss the catch. But the fairing halves are 800km down range. You need to have a boat nearby anyway, so might as well try to catch it before it lands in saltwater and screws it up.

[mattr47]

It's not the water per say. A car, laptop or airplane that is in fresh water will not work without an overhaul.

The salt water produces corrosion that fresh does not. That is why military aircraft operated near the sea get washed so much. Both inside and out, including the engines.

We would come back from overwater flights over the Atlantic and either go through a 'bird bath' which is basically a car wash for aircraft. Or they would drag a fire hose out, hook it up and spray everything down. It was pretty cool to watch the exhaust gas temps when the started dumping fresh water into the engine inlet.

[mabbo]

(Copy-pasting my own reply to a similar question below)

Salt water is the worst. It takes a lot of effort to clean it all off and it causes corrosion all the while. Even the ones that do hit water, they get them out as fast as they safely can.

As far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong), SpaceX have only reused previously-wet fairings on their own Starlink launches. They don't risk potentially damaged parts on external customers.

[wittyusername]

I think the salt water even for brief periods even surrounded and raised up a few feet by bouys is a corrosive disaster. Maybe reusable a few times but not the long term solution if they want to reuse them 10's / 100's of times.

[blackrock]

Perhaps their next move is to build another machine to spray some kind of rubber sealant foam on it, immediately after they capture it, in order to minimize and prevent the spray of ocean water and air, on the surface of the fairings.

Then, when it returns to land, someone can peel off the rubber sealant, do some quick quality control inspections, and authorize the fairing to be reused on its next launch.

[jzoch]

or just have it land on a docking pad :)