One issue is that the reusability assumes the ability to strap a new fully fueled rocket on the Airship. It cannot land, deploy the troops then take off again. So in that scenario it is expendable.
Well it makes sense to think that, but Elon is way ahead of you. Starship is designed to land on uneven planetary surfaces -- the Moon, Mars, Titan -- and take off again.
Would it be able to make it on one load of fuel? Maybe not: maybe it only flies to a nearby base and gets attached to a Super Heavy Booster there. But one reason for the number of ships in the fleet I'm describing (see the article for vastly more detail) is to carry the fuel for all these ships to return.
Again, Elon's way ahead of everybody: his entire plan requires and is designed around tankers that refuel Starship(s) in orbit from Texas. This is just an application of that capability.
One issue is that the reusability assumes the ability to strap a new fully fueled rocket on the Airship. It cannot land, deploy the troops then take off again. So in that scenario it is expendable.
Well it makes sense to think that, but Elon is way ahead of you. Starship is designed to land on uneven planetary surfaces -- the Moon, Mars, Titan -- and take off again.
Would it be able to make it on one load of fuel? Maybe not: maybe it only flies to a nearby base and gets attached to a Super Heavy Booster there. But one reason for the number of ships in the fleet I'm describing (see the article for vastly more detail) is to carry the fuel for all these ships to return.
Again, Elon's way ahead of everybody: his entire plan requires and is designed around tankers that refuel Starship(s) in orbit from Texas. This is just an application of that capability.