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by alfiopuglisi 617 days ago
It's a limitation of the Falcon Heavy, the launcher used this time. A future, more powerful one could do it while being reusable.
1 comments

Sure, a bigger rocket could carry this particular payload while being reusable. But for any rocket there will always be payloads it can't carry while also having enough fuel to land.
That constraint can be significantly mitigated by in-space refueling. Then it just becomes a matter of what the rocket can lift into a stable orbit.

Edit: Not that this applies to any currently operational rockets.