Rocketry General Thread

They just updated, they came in hard and broke off a landing leg, on target though.

Was just coming to post that. I’m on mobile on a mountain so I’m a bit slow today:) primary mission looks good, S2 delight should happen soon

Edit:relight and payload separation confirmed! That’s a successful launch! Poor old 1.1 rocket hit the barge, lets hope for good weather in a few weeks when SES attempts another barge landing with a .2

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The landing was doomed at land or at sea!

More:

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They were so close!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAqirNbwEc0/

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Why aren’t there any comments damnit! This is the coolest thing to happen all year(so far).

Insert bill nye meme

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It was success anyway. they will nail it next time.

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Yes it was successful on hitting the target near dead center with a proper angle. They will need to re-engineer the landing legs to ensure positive locking. How it failed to lock is the question.

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From what I’ve read the current theory is that the locking collet iced up from the fog

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I couldn’t watch it live. Plus they already landed one back on land. The sad state is that SpaceX is making the improbable seem very common place.

That said: wow, the accuracy was really good, especially considering the way the JRTI was dancing on those waves. Rumor has it that the FT version of the booster has improved landing legs, I wonder if they would have held.

The legs didn’t break! It just didn’t latch! That’s the amazing part…it would be like shutting your car door but it bouncing right back…it couldn’t support anything because it wasn’t locked into place. I saw the rumors of the upgrade bit they are irrelevant for this failure event, the ā€œupgradeā€ would be that the legs can be reliably locked. Structural upgrades would not have prevented this failure.

Id still call it a landing because the hoverslam was perfect.

Meanwhile:

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It sucks that they couldn’t get it to land safely, but if it is ā€˜just’ an icing problem it is potentially less concerning than let’s say metal beams that fail even though they are not being overstressed (according to the specification)

Yeah, I thought of that at first, but every recording and angle I could get suggests otherwise. It was perfectly stable except for the part where it didn’t lock. Only after a few seconds did it finally start tipping.

Just Read The Instructions returning to port:

What is the plan for when it finally lands on the ship successfully? It hardly seems a stable structure even in calmer waters. Does the recovery team come and strap it down somehow?

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They’d weld metal ā€œshoesā€ over the landing feet, thus securing the booster for transport. Don’t forget that the booster weighs just over (IIRC) 20 tonnes empty, and most of the weight lies very low: the engines are the heavies part. Theoretically it should be very stable even though it is so tall.

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Great question!

Xamino is correct. The CoM on that thing unfueled, and estimates of the leg width and CoM location say that the barge would have to tip more than 25 degrees or so which is pretty radical for a 300 foot barge. I grew up boating and that thing isn’t going to tip that much unless you’re hurricane seas with 40ft(10 meters) plus waves. The shoes will not only help it from tipping but also prevent it from sliding on the wet deck.

Do they intend to add some protection for the engine? Salt water is kind of like sulphuric acid for engines, and even rain water is probably not very healthy. I hope they at least plan for a plastic bag.

They had tarps to cover up the debris, it makes sense that their original use might be to cover the engines.

I don’t see what rain would do though…its fresh water! If rainwater is bad for the engines I can’t imagine why hydrolox is the best fuel/oxidizer combo :wink:

Great question, actually. Maybe they just use boat loads of this on everything:

Joking aside, this does seem as if it would be a legitimate concern.

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They could always refuel the stage and fly it back to Cape Canaveral. :wink:

Dragonfly Testing ! :smiley:

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what do you know.
Another group is doing the same :slight_smile:
Lets hope all this will make space travel really accessible

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