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This is super cool, in case any of their engineers read this thread congratulations. To jump in with the inevitable SpaceX comparison. Worth noting is you see
by Already__Taken 11y ago
This is super cool, in case any of their engineers read this thread congratulations.
To jump in with the inevitable SpaceX comparison. Worth noting is you see the Blue Origin booster: fall, slow, hover, correct any drift, descend then land. The SpaceX booster cannot hover, it has more thrust than it weighs.
- alienasa 11y agoFurther point of clarification, the SpaceX booster has more thrust than it weighs because it is capable of delivering payloads to orbit, which the Blue Origin booster cannot do.
- ggreer 11y agoAll rockets have more thrust than their weight, otherwise they would not get off the ground. Hover ability comes from having a rocket engine that can throttle down enough to match the weight of the almost-empty rocket. Blue Origin's BE-3 can throttle down to 20% of its design thrust, possibly lower.[1] SpaceX's Merlin 1D can throttle down to 70%.[2] Apparently, even with only one of the nine engines firing, it's enough to lift the almost-empty Falcon 9 first stage. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BE-3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BE-3 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(rocket_engine_family)#Merlin_1D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(rocket_engine_family)#...