Towards a reusable rocket system with a fast turnaround, part 3

Speculation alert

A small, but important detail was left out in the previous discussion. The Falcon 9's ISP leaves a lot of room for improvement. The will occur once SpaceX goes with an all LH2/LOX rocket in both stages.

Let's look at the first stage of the Falcon 9:

255 ISP on First Stage, 345 for second stage

Now compare this with the main engines of the Shuttle.  You have a considerable discrepancy in performance there.  This will make a big difference when calculating masses in the rocket equation.

I am guesstimating upwards of 350000 pounds of wet mass can be shaved off the Falcon 9 by using liquid hydrogen instead of RP-1.   The mass savings could be applied in making the Falcon 9 fully re-usable.

Based upon this, I think SpaceX's odds of success at being 100%.   They will succeed.




Update:

Next in Series, Part 4