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SpaceX Plans to Land Next Falcon 9 on Solid Ground

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Re: SpaceX Plans to Land Next Falcon 9 on Solid Ground

#41

Post by [deleted] »

daeken wrote: post #38
harshreality wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They need to be able to stabilize the rocket's landing in all sorts of conditions if they want to have any hope of landing it on another planet. It's not like interplanetary launches will be able to schedule launches to choose optimal weather conditions for the landing. Maybe, if they're lucky, they'll be able to orbit briefly to avoid bad weather at the landing site, but moderate winds and wind gusts are going to be…

> They need to be able to stabilize the rocket's landing in all sorts of conditions if they want to have any hope of landing it on another planet. Well, not really. Dragons (and Red Dragons, for interplanetary travel) are way, way less sensitive to the whims of weather. The issue with the first stage is that you have a very large, very fragile, very bottom-heavy tin can that you're trying to balance on a moving platf…

[deleted]

Re: SpaceX Plans to Land Next Falcon 9 on Solid Ground

#42

Post by Cshelton »

harshreality wrote: post #24
Cshelton wrote: post #8

I think now that they have proven they can 'hit the hole', almost spot on, they'll be able to get approval to go for a try on cleared land space. It sounds like to me, landing on land would be ideal; less expensive and less risk with stabilization and rough waters.

They need to be able to stabilize the rocket's landing in all sorts of conditions if they want to have any hope of landing it on another planet. It's not like interplanetary launches will be able to schedule launches to choose optimal weather conditions for the landing. Maybe, if they're lucky, they'll be able to orbit briefly to avoid bad weather at the landing site, but moderate winds and wind gusts are going to be…

I agree, but I think right now, even more important, is getting the model for private space flight/exploration right. Currently, the majority of SpaceX's revenue is through government contracts. Cost savings through reuse-ability should be the number one focus, not the technology on how to land on another planet through adverse and unpredictable conditions. The ASDS is really cool and all, and could definitely be something interesting down the road...like a spaceport sitting right off the coast of a major city, ready to take you to the moon hotel...or the other side of the world in under an hour.

But I think achieving major cost savings by landing the rocket in such a way that it could be launched the next day, that should be our first goal right now.

Which is why it makes sense to now attempt an over land landing. They had to make sure it wouldn't miss and accidental land in the middle of Miami or something.

Re: SpaceX Plans to Land Next Falcon 9 on Solid Ground

#46

Post by Cshelton »

daeken wrote: post #38
harshreality wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They need to be able to stabilize the rocket's landing in all sorts of conditions if they want to have any hope of landing it on another planet. It's not like interplanetary launches will be able to schedule launches to choose optimal weather conditions for the landing. Maybe, if they're lucky, they'll be able to orbit briefly to avoid bad weather at the landing site, but moderate winds and wind gusts are going to be…

> They need to be able to stabilize the rocket's landing in all sorts of conditions if they want to have any hope of landing it on another planet. Well, not really. Dragons (and Red Dragons, for interplanetary travel) are way, way less sensitive to the whims of weather. The issue with the first stage is that you have a very large, very fragile, very bottom-heavy tin can that you're trying to balance on a moving platf…

On top of that, they are trying to do it with the main engines, combined with the light weight of the almost empty stage..the power can only be reduced so much. They can't hover and stabilize. They literally have to have a landing burn that makes the velocity at height 0... = 0. Which is incredibly hard enough on stable ground, even more on water. Maybe they'll figure out how to cut off engines as the stage slows down so that the acceleration change isn't so drastic and it could actually have a miniature 'abort' land. Where it would go back up slightly to re position itself in the event of weather, wind, rough waters, etc.

Re: SpaceX Plans to Land Next Falcon 9 on Solid Ground

#47

Post by segacontroller »

[deleted] wrote: post #41
daeken wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They need to be able to stabilize the rocket's landing in all sorts of conditions if they want to have any hope of landing it on another planet. Well, not really. Dragons (and Red Dragons, for interplanetary travel) are way, way less sensitive to the whims of weather. The issue with the first stage is that you have a very large, very fragile, very bottom-heavy tin can that you're trying to balance on a moving platf…

[deleted]

OK that may be the long term goal, but what is the short term goal?

What is the goal of landing this rocket stage on earth?

Is it to use this model to land on another planet, or is it to use this model to reduce costs and reuse the first stage of the rocket?

Re: SpaceX Plans to Land Next Falcon 9 on Solid Ground

#48

Post by glassarrows »

sergiosgc wrote: post #13

Does this mean they'll be launching from another facility? Right now, the trajectory goes over to the sea, and bringing the first stage back to dry land is expensive. They'd have to launch far away from the east coast.

>Jason 3 is a scientific Earth observation satellite designed to monitor and precisely measure the world’s oceans. Falcon 9 will attempt to land back at SLC-4W, marking the first land landing.

http://spacexstats.com/upcoming.php

Re: SpaceX Plans to Land Next Falcon 9 on Solid Ground

#49

Post by flountown »

Are there any articles or press out there that describe the stabilization tech used on the barge?

A lot of the things when looking through Google seem to focus on the challenges of guiding the rocket but not stabilizing the platform.

I guess it tends to be a non-issue since it seems their plan all along was landing it on land, but I'd be really interested to see the design story that went into the barge.

Re: SpaceX Plans to Land Next Falcon 9 on Solid Ground

#50

Post by [deleted] »

segacontroller wrote: post #47
[deleted] wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

OK that may be the long term goal, but what is the short term goal? What is the goal of landing this rocket stage on earth? Is it to use this model to land on another planet, or is it to use this model to reduce costs and reuse the first stage of the rocket?

[deleted]
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