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Blue Origin does not launch into orbit. Going up is the 'easy' part. To get to orbit you have to go many thousands of miles per hour sideways. Blue Origin doesn
by JshWright 10y ago
Blue Origin does not launch into orbit. Going up is the 'easy' part. To get to orbit you have to go many thousands of miles per hour sideways. Blue Origin doesn't go sideways at all, they just go up and come back down.
SpaceX has done 'land' landings in the past as well (for lighter payloads they have enough fuel to turn around and come all the way back to land).
EDIT: Here's a quick explainer on the topic with shiny graphics: http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a18711/blue-origin-vs-spacex/ http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a18711/blue-or...
- gus_massa 10y agoRelevant (what-if)xkcd: https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/
- ygra 10y agoIn this case it would have been barely possible to do a land landing, but the margin was much larger for a barge landing (since the stage doesn't have to return all the way to the launch site, which takes quite a bit of fuel). In the end it doesn't really matter, though. The cores that land on the barge just take a few days longer to return home.
- JshWright 10y agoDroneship landings are particularly convenient for west coast launches, as they can unload them ~20 miles from the factory (which is where they are refurbished, for now at least).
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- walrus01 10y agoIt is pretty easy to learn the difference in this with a very basic rocket in kerbal space program. Launch up and you'll come down near where you started, in a parabola... Launch up and then go sideways to gain orbital velocity for a long time, you're in orbit.
- rrmm 10y agoAgree, KSP is a great way to internalize how orbital mechanics work. After playing it a little while, everything clicks and things become natural, like the sort of physics one uses playing billiards or building block towers.