Can't wait to fiddle with the landing source code after they release it in 10 to 20 years time :D
SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
141–150 of 216 posts
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
It did not explode when it landed. It exploded after it landed. This is an important distinction, because the latter is a thousand times harder to accomplish.
Let's say they permanently remove one leg and it now always tips over on landing and has no stable landing configuration. Could they bill that as a self-landing rocket?
Eh probably. What a strange question.
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#143> explodes on landing This is a pretty unfair characterization. It actually made the landing for most purposes, then a specific failure occurred - a leg failed to lock and it fell over. And yes, when a rocket falls over it will often explode.
As someone mentioned on Reddit Succeeded to land. Failed to stand.
It landed, just didn't stick the landing :-)
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
It did not explode when it landed. It exploded after it landed. This is an important distinction, because the latter is a thousand times harder to accomplish.
Let's say they permanently remove one leg and it now always tips over on landing and has no stable landing configuration. Could they bill that as a self-landing rocket?
The point is that the ability to land is much harder to develop than the ability to stand up after landing. Improving the leg locking mechanisms is relatively trivial compared to developing the ability to turn a booster around in space, fly it back to earth and land on a floating platform.
If I was involved in SpaceX then I would be proud to have helped solve such a tricky problem, and optimistic about fixing the far less difficult leg locking problem
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
The key thing to remember about rockets is that they are incredibly fragile. The rocket is about 15 stories tall and is designed for force to only be applied at the end either via the rocket engines or the landing gear. Any type of lateral forces will irreversibly damage the rocket. As an illustration, extreme care is taken when the rocket needs to be transported on its side. Some rockets, not the Falcon 9, can't eve…
While that's true, the metal tube is not the part that's expensive to build.
You'd be surprised: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isogrid
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be clear it's a barge, not a dock. It might be possible, but we're talking about a rocket descending from hypersonic spaceflight; the accuracy is always going to be +/- a few metres. And the rocket would still have to have some kind of "hardpoints" that were strong enough to absorb the landing impact (you don't want to land smack on the delicate engine nozzles). A (relatively) big flat landing field and legs on th…
Yeah but if a rocket can so easily explode just by falling over, I'm not sure there are any legs I trust it to land on. I mean what if the legs were damaged during launch somehow, how exactly would it get back down safely other than just dropping it in the ocean completely?
> I mean what if the legs were damaged during launch somehow, how exactly would it get back down safely other than just dropping it in the ocean completely?
That's exactly the plan. The first stage will never carry humans, so in the event of a major technical fault it'd just drop into the sea.
> Yeah but if a rocket can so easily explode just by falling over, I'm not sure there are any legs I trust it to land on.
Your proposal is a giant landing pad that snaps shut to hold the stage in place. I'd trust a leg over that...
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#147Congrats to the guys at Space-X! Love to see me some hardware blowing up.
Seriously, I'm not being facetious. We make aeronautical hardware safe by flying the crap out of it. That means lots of flights. Lots of accidents. The more you fly it, the more problems you have, the safer it is.
Congrats guys. Every time gets closer and closer. A few more and you'll have this thing nailed. That's good for all of us.
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#148I like to think that with these videos SpaceX is also making a very worthy contribution to more realistic movie special effects.
Not enough lens-flare.
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#149Why is the barge landing part so important to them? Seems unnecessarily difficult.
Big world out there...surely some suitable location can be found that is less wobbly for a start.
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#150SpaceX actually got very close to sticking this landing. Sea conditions were reasonably rough, with 3-meter waves. It's also the first time SpaceX launches in fog, IIRC. Everything about the landing except the stuck leg seemed to be perfect. So IMHO, the fact that the rocket exploded is not the most pertinent fact about this experiment. The main piece of news is that SpaceX is exceedingly likely to be able to recover…
There's a pragmatic difference between recovering the booster over some period of time, vs literally parking the booster right where it took off & ready to re-launch within hours/minutes.
I can't see re-launching withing hours any time in the foreseeable future. Even once they're proven reusable each booster will need significant inspection and likely maintenance before being ready to re-launch.