There are many tough issues to solve with this vehicle, but the biggest remaining problem is making a reusable orbital return heat shield, which has never been done before.
That means the second stage's novel heat shield, composed of around 18,000 ceramic hexagonal tiles, will be put to the test.
One of the biggest issues, Musk suggested, is the vulnerability of the system overall: 'we are not resilient to loss of a single tile in most places,' he said.
SpaceX made major headway in reusability with its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket... By reusing both stages of the rocket, SpaceX is hoping to drive down costs.
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