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Is it really a lot more technology? If they were landing 100 km away I'd agree, but aren't they basically reaching the required orbital speed and reentering an
by kragen 1y ago
Is it really a lot more technology? If they were landing 100 km away I'd agree, but aren't they basically reaching the required orbital speed and reentering and landing under retrorocket control? I'm no expert on orbital dynamics, so I might be missing something important.
- pclmulqdq 1y agoA zero-G engine restart to break orbit is the technology. And yes, it is a lot more technology given how the engines work.
- kragen 1y agoOh! Thank you!
- sbuttgereit 1y agoThey're never reaching orbital velocity on purpose. The reason is that they're still proving that they can fire rockets and deorbit under control; until they do that, any problem automatically puts the ship in the ocean no matter what while if they go to orbit and can't control the deorbit they end up possibly causing a disaster. Now, they are getting it to pretty damn close to orbital velocity... which is why saying they still haven't reached orbit is a bit silly. They're clearly technically able to reach orbit if they really want to... that they haven't proved they can safely leave orbit is the problem.
- verzali 1y agoLike turning back 300ft below the summit of everest because you aren't confident you have enough daylight to make it back if you do go for the top