They should give up on the barge idea and simply land it on a remote landmass, or better yet, the same pad it launched from through a redesign to increase the first stage glide ratio? There would be a number of advantages to the latter.
The barge platform could work if they build another platform above it that is able to move up and down with hydraulics to counter the ocean waves.
They should give up on the barge idea and simply land it on a remote landmass,
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Landing on land is easier, but that still would have failed in this case because a landing leg didn’t lock. Barge landings are necessary because not all missions will have enough fuel to return the launchpad.