4 ms·

I wonder what emergency procedure is in place in case the landing is off-course. Does it blow itself up?

andrewcchen 7y ago
The booster's trajectory targets offshore or away from droneship in case landing burn fails. The landing burn brings the booster onto the landing pad. See CRS-16 where the booster landed in the water when the booster lost roll control when the grid fins failed.
- Klathmon 7y ago
  They've had a few "on purposes misses" over the years. The Falcon Heavy demo launch had the center core purposely miss the droneship as it was coming in way too fast since 2 of the engines didn't light. IIRC it purposely missed the droneship by only a few hundred meters, but it was going something like 300 miles per hour!
inflatableDodo 7y ago
As an addendum to that, if one accidentally lands in my back yard, can I keep it?
- agumonkey 7y ago
  you can, as long as SpaceX recovery truck has not reached your door
  - inflatableDodo 7y ago
    I'll swap the house numbers with next door. They'll never find it.
    - bloopernova 7y ago
      I know this is increasingly off-topic for hn, but the mental image of being woken up by loud booster noises, then seeing a huge booster sitting in your now-ruined garden is hilarious to me. We certainly do live in the future.
      - ecpottinger 7y ago
        In the anime "Rocket Girls" they landed in the school's swimming pool.
- ForHackernews 7y ago
  Probably: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/lens/space-rocket-parts-russia-towns.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/lens/space-rocket-parts-r... http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2018/06/07/in-russia-spacecraft-land-in-your-backyard/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2018/06/07/in-russia-... I don't know what the salvage rights in the US are.
- pjc50 7y ago
  Almost certainly not - there's all sorts of precedent from rolled-away cars to high wind incidents that just because something has ended up on your property does not make it yours unless the owner has abandoned or discarded it.
- Tuna-Fish 7y ago
  No, but if one crashes in the ocean, sinks, and SpaceX does not attempt to salvage it, it legally becomes a derelict and the property of whoever who goes lift it up.
- rhcom2 7y ago
  Probably not, but maybe you could fine them for littering. http://mentalfloss.com/article/70708/nasas-unpaid-400-littering-ticket-skylab-debris-australia http://mentalfloss.com/article/70708/nasas-unpaid-400-litter...
- penagwin 7y ago
  Most likely not, but considering my house would likely be on fire and the hearing damage, I feel a booster would be decent compensation.
fabian2k 7y ago
As far as I understand, the Flight Termination System is safed before the landing burn. It's more dangerous to have it potentially still active after landing. So at this point it can't blow itself up anymore. Until the last moment it also doesn't target the barge itself, but slightly to the side. Only very shortly before landing does it correct the target to the actual landing position. So in most cases it would simply hit the water instead of anything else when there is a major issue.
- Klathmon 7y ago
  If you watch the livestream for yesterday's falcon heavy launch on youtube the second camera angle is a rendering showing trajectory, and you can actually see the center core adjusting closer and closer to the droneship with each step as it gets more confident that it's able to land safely.
ceejayoz 7y ago
CRS-16 landed in the water offshore when it lost control. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p1SDaXRaWY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p1SDaXRaWY

The booster's trajectory targets offshore or away from droneship in case landing burn fails. The landing burn brings the booster onto the landing pad. See CRS-16 where the booster landed in the water when the booster lost roll control when the grid fins failed.

Klathmon 7y ago
They've had a few "on purposes misses" over the years. The Falcon Heavy demo launch had the center core purposely miss the droneship as it was coming in way too fast since 2 of the engines didn't light. IIRC it purposely missed the droneship by only a few hundred meters, but it was going something like 300 miles per hour!

inflatableDodo 7y ago

As an addendum to that, if one accidentally lands in my back yard, can I keep it?

agumonkey 7y ago
you can, as long as SpaceX recovery truck has not reached your door
- inflatableDodo 7y ago
  I'll swap the house numbers with next door. They'll never find it.
  - bloopernova 7y ago
    I know this is increasingly off-topic for hn, but the mental image of being woken up by loud booster noises, then seeing a huge booster sitting in your now-ruined garden is hilarious to me. We certainly do live in the future.
    - ecpottinger 7y ago
      In the anime "Rocket Girls" they landed in the school's swimming pool.
ForHackernews 7y ago
Probably: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/lens/space-rocket-parts-russia-towns.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/lens/space-rocket-parts-r... http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2018/06/07/in-russia-spacecraft-land-in-your-backyard/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2018/06/07/in-russia-... I don't know what the salvage rights in the US are.
pjc50 7y ago
Almost certainly not - there's all sorts of precedent from rolled-away cars to high wind incidents that just because something has ended up on your property does not make it yours unless the owner has abandoned or discarded it.
Tuna-Fish 7y ago
No, but if one crashes in the ocean, sinks, and SpaceX does not attempt to salvage it, it legally becomes a derelict and the property of whoever who goes lift it up.
rhcom2 7y ago
Probably not, but maybe you could fine them for littering. http://mentalfloss.com/article/70708/nasas-unpaid-400-littering-ticket-skylab-debris-australia http://mentalfloss.com/article/70708/nasas-unpaid-400-litter...
penagwin 7y ago
Most likely not, but considering my house would likely be on fire and the hearing damage, I feel a booster would be decent compensation.

fabian2k 7y ago

As far as I understand, the Flight Termination System is safed before the landing burn. It's more dangerous to have it potentially still active after landing. So at this point it can't blow itself up anymore. Until the last moment it also doesn't target the barge itself, but slightly to the side. Only very shortly before landing does it correct the target to the actual landing position. So in most cases it would simply hit the water instead of anything else when there is a major issue.

Klathmon 7y ago
If you watch the livestream for yesterday's falcon heavy launch on youtube the second camera angle is a rendering showing trajectory, and you can actually see the center core adjusting closer and closer to the droneship with each step as it gets more confident that it's able to land safely.

ceejayoz 7y ago

CRS-16 landed in the water offshore when it lost control. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p1SDaXRaWY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p1SDaXRaWY