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SpaceX Attempting 1st Stage Landing After Rocket Launch (AKA Crazy Space Stuff)
- Thread starter DrForester
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Beautiful.
That's the angle I've been waiting for. Thank you very much.
XGRaViSmOrSX
Member
Pristine_Condition
Member
A .gif for the kids...
Pristine_Condition
Member
exmachina64
Banned
Damn.
Neuromancer
Member
Congrats to Howard Stark and team! I hope this means we're one step closer to Mars.
Missed this one, amazing!
legacyzero
Banned
This was such a great watch. They've been working their aas off for this.
iceblade997
Member
This is truly amazing. Such a great and groundbreaking year for space travel. Absolutely amazing...
Well technically isn't that the most efficient option, if scary to watch..
It is, though more importantly than efficiency, it's the only it can be done on such a powerful rocket. Unless they equip it with a low powered landing-only engine, it's impossible for the currently equipped engine to throttle down low enough for a slower landing. The rocket has too high a thrust to weight ratio to hover or descend at a constant speed, so the only option is to decelerate it all the way down so it hits 0 velocity exactly when it lands. decelerating too early will actually cause it to climb again.
It absolutely is. Especially when a computer is doing the guiding. But in KSP when you are doing it all manually it often goes not so well.....
Marky Mark
Member
As exciting as it was too watch it succeed in kind of wanting to see this as I think it would be hilarious. "Prepare for touchdown in 3,2,1 aaaaand there she goes again..."
CyclopsRock
Member
So amazing. That's just brilliant.
Stiflers Mom
Banned
Amazing feat....
Looking forward what crazy things they are going to attempt next..
Really happy that Musk is using the crazy amount of money he has to get humanity going forward (at least technically).
Looking forward what crazy things they are going to attempt next..
Really happy that Musk is using the crazy amount of money he has to get humanity going forward (at least technically).
Sir_Crocodile
Member
Man, that's not even titled well
CyclopsRock
Member
Nope, it's the other way around (it's not any more complicated than you would think - the ocean can roll, the earth can't). But this was the first time they got approval from both the Air Force and the FAA to actually attempt a landing on land. The barge attempts were more of a work in progress, as well as being a useful contingency in the future in case of poor weather (so it can land somewhere else).
nekkid
It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
Shameless cross post:
Amazing feat of engineering, and achieved in a relatively short time. Trust Elon to do what governments can't.
Congrats to all the staff at SpaceX.
Landing on the barges was probably for safety more than anything - landing back at the Cape was always the intention eventually. What those failed landings proved is that it can hit the target, even if it doesn't survive the landing. I guess they were comfortable enough that they could avoid an unsafe reentry even if they crashed again.
Amazing feat of engineering, and achieved in a relatively short time. Trust Elon to do what governments can't.
Congrats to all the staff at SpaceX.
Landing on the barges was probably for safety more than anything - landing back at the Cape was always the intention eventually. What those failed landings proved is that it can hit the target, even if it doesn't survive the landing. I guess they were comfortable enough that they could avoid an unsafe reentry even if they crashed again.
You cross post away
After some thought, I would go as far as saying that last night's landing is the biggest moment in rocketry advancement since the Moon landings. Achievement wise, maybe Curiosity landing aside, I cannot think of many bigger achievements.
Flawed as it was, I'd put STS-1 up there. First flight of that whole system and they had pilots on board. Balls of steel and it's amazing they ever got that frankenstein of a machine to fly as reliably as it did.
blu
Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
I'm expecting ULA's pending capture of falling 1st stages mid-air with nets and helicopters to eclipse SpaceX's landing.You cross post away
After some thought, I would go as far as saying that last night's landing is the biggest moment in rocketry advancement since the Moon landings. Achievement wise, maybe Curiosity landing aside, I cannot think of many bigger achievements.
Jezbollah
Member
Holy shit, I forgot about STS-1. Ballsiest space mission ever flown by humans IMO. I would have had kittens watching that go up.
ULA's solution will be interesting to see develop. The fact theres a disconnect between main engines and tanks is extremely interesting.
nekkid
It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
Jezbollah
Member
I got a little hint of that
but when I thought about it, it will require some serious, SpaceX-like engineering that will be immensely impressive if they nail it.At the risk of not knowing how much SpaceX can turn over a reusable Falcon 9 into a launch ready unit on second use, I don't suppose the ULA solution will be as financially loss-reducing as SpaceX.
I just saw Elon's landing site video. Only a few seconds, but again it shows the size of F9. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/679145544673923072
Schrade
Member
I got a little hint of that
At the risk of not knowing how much SpaceX can turn over a reusable Falcon 9 into a launch ready unit on second use, I don't suppose the ULA solution will be as financially loss-reducing as SpaceX.
I just saw Elon's landing site video. Only a few seconds, but again it shows the size of F9. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/679145544673923072
Video from that:
http://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/679145419507548161/pu/vid/720x1280/yfS-oXePH-ZOt0FS.mp4
lrt75914
Member
Is this kind of recovery system really that feasible? I would imagine that the fuel requirements for a self landing lower-stage could significantly decrease the payload capacity of the whole rocket. It's an impressive system but I don't see how it could compete with the rocket platforms that are available today.
Fuel is cheap. Rockets are not.
If your payload without recovery is 10 tonnes (say) and your payload with recovery is 8 tonnes, then you are going to completely dominate the 8 tonne payload market.
In this case, yes the payload was well within the capabilities of the (now upgraded) Falcon 9. But they will now also be able to do 1st stage landings after Dragon launches. If that's not a proper payload I don't know what is!
Kill Your Masters
Member
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX#Launch_market_competition_and_pricing_pressure
Its basically fuel vs. destroying your rocket with each launch.
Jezbollah
Member
The weight of the first stage when landing is a fraction of what it weighs at launch with all that fuel on board.
Plus, they have Falcon Heavy for the bigger payloads (SpaceX's competitor to the ULA's Delta 4 Heavy)
They have a plan, and it is sustainable compared to today's rocket platforms.
CyclopsRock
Member
Plus it doesn't actually need all the much fuel - by the time the first stage separates it's pretty light as most of its fuel has gone (it's so light that the lowest available thrust from a single engine will launch it back skywards, thus the incredibly high speed at which it approaches the landing pad). Obviously it reduces the payload capability somewhat, but not too much (and they're being generous with their allowance now given the test-like nature of this launch).
The BFR will have capacity to spare, too.
The BFR will have capacity to spare, too.
PjotrStroganov
Member
Goosebumps! Well done guys.
blu
Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
Not sure if already posted, but here's what Elon had to say shortly before OG2: a fairly informative read.
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Technology and engineering have come a long way when you see things like this.
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