SpaceX Tuesday...
Discussion
Eric Mc said:
The barge seems to have come through its "thrashing" fairly unscathed.
Yes, looks like a glancing blow.Have to give them Kudos, managing to "hit" the barge is inside the quote accuracy of some ICBM systems!
As you said, it'll take a few goes... I think its also slightly ironic, this would be alot easier if they where allowed to land it in a desert or similar isolated location but they have to do the open water/barge approach first to prove they can do it.
More or less.
They have to be able to demonstrate that they can control the rate of descent and soft land the thing in a very accurate way.
Their ultimate plan would be to have it land vertically more or less beside where it took off from - much as the Space Shuttle tried as often as it could to land back at Kennedy.
However, they have a long way to go before they can get to that point. At the moment the FAA will be having nightmare visions of a Falcon 1st stage scoring a bullseye at unabated speed right into the middle of The Magic Kingdom.
They have to be able to demonstrate that they can control the rate of descent and soft land the thing in a very accurate way.
Their ultimate plan would be to have it land vertically more or less beside where it took off from - much as the Space Shuttle tried as often as it could to land back at Kennedy.
However, they have a long way to go before they can get to that point. At the moment the FAA will be having nightmare visions of a Falcon 1st stage scoring a bullseye at unabated speed right into the middle of The Magic Kingdom.
Looks like some debris of the rocket being unloaded
http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/01/11/photos-spacex...
http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/01/11/photos-spacex...
Eric Mc said:
More or less.
They have to be able to demonstrate that they can control the rate of descent and soft land the thing in a very accurate way.
Their ultimate plan would be to have it land vertically more or less beside where it took off from - much as the Space Shuttle tried as often as it could to land back at Kennedy.
However, they have a long way to go before they can get to that point. At the moment the FAA will be having nightmare visions of a Falcon 1st stage scoring a bullseye at unabated speed right into the middle of The Magic Kingdom.
Perhaps another design could sprout wings and wheels and land like a drone? More weight to carry up though I suppose.They have to be able to demonstrate that they can control the rate of descent and soft land the thing in a very accurate way.
Their ultimate plan would be to have it land vertically more or less beside where it took off from - much as the Space Shuttle tried as often as it could to land back at Kennedy.
However, they have a long way to go before they can get to that point. At the moment the FAA will be having nightmare visions of a Falcon 1st stage scoring a bullseye at unabated speed right into the middle of The Magic Kingdom.
Love one of the comments on that pics site -
Ken Hatch · I would suggest they speak more realistically and more conversationally about tests like this. "We are going to crash a rocket into a boat, its going to be epic!" "Eventually we might even get it to land, and some day the information will allow us to land bigger rockets back where they launched from."
He then goes on to say how this would work better with the media and undermine all those stupid "failed landing" headlines. I think he might have a point at this stage in the project.
Ken Hatch · I would suggest they speak more realistically and more conversationally about tests like this. "We are going to crash a rocket into a boat, its going to be epic!" "Eventually we might even get it to land, and some day the information will allow us to land bigger rockets back where they launched from."
He then goes on to say how this would work better with the media and undermine all those stupid "failed landing" headlines. I think he might have a point at this stage in the project.
Simpo Two said:
Perhaps another design could sprout wings and wheels and land like a drone? More weight to carry up though I suppose.
Weight is always the issue with launchers. For every pound of weight you add to the stage, you might three or four times the weight in fuel to lift that extra weight - which of course needs extra fuel etc.The Shuttle showed the problems associated with launching unnecessary items into space i.e. wings, undercarriage and wheels, tail fins and the associated hydraulic systems, power units etc.
Eric Mc said:
Simpo Two said:
Perhaps another design could sprout wings and wheels and land like a drone? More weight to carry up though I suppose.
Weight is always the issue with launchers. For every pound of weight you add to the stage, you might three or four times the weight in fuel to lift that extra weight - which of course needs extra fuel etc.The Shuttle showed the problems associated with launching unnecessary items into space i.e. wings, undercarriage and wheels, tail fins and the associated hydraulic systems, power units etc.
It's not just the weight, it's the complexity, more stuff = more to go wrong. One of the big weak points of the Shuttle was it's complexity.
These all have to be designed, developed, tested, tested again, broken, redesigned, new features added, redesigned, tested, broken, redesigned again etc, etc...
Simpo Two said:
So maybe simple and cheap is best and make them disposable - empty cylinder falls into sea, eventually picked up and recycled into fridges...
Nah, they've already slashed the cost of launch and its still $60M. Even a very optimistic & dedicated focus on cheap reusable is going to leave you with costs of some tens of millions at best.Fuel for a launch is only circa $0.2M, add cost of all the launch process & management and a reusable could be flying for a few million per lift.
Hell even if they crash 50% of all the landings indefinitely they'll be way ahead.
Rockets are expensive, fuel is cheap.
You also have to keep in mind that ultimate reason Musk started SpaceX was establish travel to and from Mars. Reliable rapid reusability is what they are all about.
2 - 3 weeks till the next launch...plus some humour from Elon Musk
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/55610537005405...
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/55610537005405...
Video now released
https://vine.co/v/OjqeYWWpVWK
Right click on image and unmute to get the sound
https://vine.co/v/OjqeYWWpVWK
Right click on image and unmute to get the sound
Edited by MartG on Friday 16th January 17:50
MartG said:
If that's not "good video of the landing" then I don't know what is???Gassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff