Maggot Brain      this really does seem like the hardest way to recover a rocket.
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Corpus Delectable      Hataz gonna...
Anyhoo, the barge business is to comply with / skirt around the FAA while testing continues. Also, it reduces the amount of delta-V needed for the boostback burn. Also also, to return to the launch site, you lob yourself upward and wait for the Earth to rotate under you. This results in a hotter reentry.
Their goal has been to return the things back to the launch complex. They're even building a couple of landing pads in Florida on the Cape.
The payoff for this is enormous, in the long run. The equipment cost to launch a pound of stuff into orbit is like 00-000. The fuel cost is like .
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Oscar Wildcat Fair enough, I can see the value of landing the thing on dry land. That seems much more doable than landing on a boat in the water. I can't help but imagine that it would be like jumping off a diving board and landing feet first on a surf board. The slightest imbalance and the board slips from beneath you and you tumble over. It's hard to tell from the clip, but I don't think it even got to that point.
They claim to be trying this several more times, so we shall see. I admire them for trying.
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garcet71283 Boat Spaceships.
Worked for Cowboy Bebop, why not give it a shot?
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blue vein steel @OC. the whole point of doing this on a barge right now is because this is new, untested tech, and you don't want to test something like this over places where people might be. The ocean is your safety net. In the future, you could do this on land, once the failure rate is below its current 100%. Or, even have an artificial island, that can refuel and reload, out in the gulf of Mexico
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Maggot Brain @blue vein steel
Why not just land it in the middle of Canada?
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blue vein steel @MB Serious answer: it's far away from the equator
Joke answer: I can't think of a joke, but one is there
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Maggot Brain Fuck, Just reminded me of Brazil's horrible/amazing space program.
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Jet Bin Fever      Hey, we're getting there!
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The Mothership      Give em a fucking break, they just almost landed a fucking rocket on a barge in the middle of the ocean.
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Oscar Wildcat A Ukranian mathematician friend of mine has a wonderful hand gesture he used to describe such things. He would take his left hand, reach all the way around the back of his head to his right ear, and scratch it.
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Sanest Man Alive That's not some wonderful gesture. The man is suffering from earmites, and you stand there chortling and refusing to help, you fool!
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Oscar Wildcat Boom Boom Boom
Satellite of Love!
Boom Boom Boom
Satellite of Love...
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Sanest Man Alive      Damn, that drop cost me the pool we had going at work. Oh well. I can't think of a better thing to lose money over than scientific progress.
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Robin Kestrel      Gotta break a few eggs.
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chumbucket      Back to more practice with Lunar Lander.
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mouser      Bet it'd worked if they had painted a big vagina on the pad.
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TeenerTot Thunderbirds are GOoooooh shit.
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