171–180 of 216 posts
> 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.
> And yes, when a rocket falls over it will often explode. Why? Why would a small hit make it explode, when the stress of going from orbit does not?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And yes, when a rocket falls over it will often explode. Why? Why would a small hit make it explode, when the stress of going from orbit does not?
Different stresses.
So when the thing topples over, it bends. And when it bends, it ruptures because it's far in excess of the loads under standard conditions.
> 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.
> And yes, when a rocket falls over it will often explode. Why? Why would a small hit make it explode, when the stress of going from orbit does not?
This is the second time something like this happened. Why not put 4 tall posts up - equidistant from each other - a square. Then a wire net between the posts. When it tips over, it can just fall into the wire net.... they could even have motors to unwind a little while it leans over on them to allow "soft catching" the rocket. Foam over the wires would help here. Actually... why not skip the barge & the dramatic land…
1) As you say, salt water is bad. Do never go in salt water if you want metallic, electronic things to keep working.
2) The rocket can't withstand much, if any, load in longitudinal bending mode. It'll buckle like a toilet paper cardboard tube. This almost certainly includes under its own weight, if you were to 'catch' it at the top of the rocket and hold it on an angle. To design against that, you'd be adding way too much weight to the structure to make it worthwhile.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
yeah, it feels the title this time should be rocket explodes AFTER landing, to give a better feeling of how close this was
especially since it seems to have hit the bullseye on the center of the barge (maybe missed dead center by a few inches).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
yeah, it feels the title this time should be rocket explodes AFTER landing, to give a better feeling of how close this was
especially since it seems to have hit the bullseye on the center of the barge (maybe missed dead center by a few inches).
> 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.
> And yes, when a rocket falls over it will often explode. Why? Why would a small hit make it explode, when the stress of going from orbit does not?
Essentially the right parts just popped like a balloon. Falling on your side involves much different loads than being propelled into orbit. There's little value to designing a rocket to withstand such a fall.
Also, didn't this portion of the rocket land before the satellite was deployed?
Am I the only one who was surprised by how violently the rocket exploded when it fell to its side?
I suspect there is also a termination system that deliberately detonates so as to control the mode of failure (i.e.: combust the dangerous stuff before it has an opportunity to mix with the other stuff and make things worse)