4 ms·

As if this weren't impressive enough already, according to a comment made by Scott Manley[1] it sounds like the final maneuver (where it appears the rocket is m

As if this weren't impressive enough already, according to a comment made by Scott Manley[1] it sounds like the final maneuver (where it appears the rocket is making a fairly strong lateral correction) is entirely intentional. Not sure if anyone here can confirm or deny the claim, but apparently the trajectory prior to landing is not supposed to be exactly above the barge as one would expect - I understand it may be an attempt to limit exposure/damage to the barge in case of failure. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9I55o8hQgs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9I55o8hQgs

zaroth 12y ago
I was wondering about that too! I guess it does make sense if the final burn fails to not have a fairly large bomb dropping at terminal velocity directly onto the barge! On land I guess less of a difference though...
- andygates 12y ago
  Not terminal velocity, just fairly fast: there's a deceleration burn earlier in the descent plan. If that doesn't work, the big red abort button can be used to blow it up at high altitude.
Shivetya 12y ago
just the fact they can hit a barge after falling back from space impresses me. I wonder if there are any islands they could use instead, surely they had to have looked for one. Would a stationary oil platform work better?
- noselasd 12y ago
  They do launches with different trajectories, so you'll run out of fuel if the landing site is fixed and you're launching the rocket in another direction. Besides, you'll anyway need something to transport it back to mainland. If all this goes well though, the intention is to eventually fly it back and land it on the mainland.
- vidarh 12y ago
  A volcano base if one is to judge by Elon's tweets.
spectrum1234 12y ago
This is pretty fascinating and makes a lot of sense. You obv want to land very slowly, but going slow means less control to keep it vertical. So the clever work around is use thrust at the last second which will allow it to also be vertical and stable. And that means coming in from a non vertical angle beforehand which is exactly what they do.

zaroth 12y ago

I was wondering about that too! I guess it does make sense if the final burn fails to not have a fairly large bomb dropping at terminal velocity directly onto the barge! On land I guess less of a difference though...

andygates 12y ago
Not terminal velocity, just fairly fast: there's a deceleration burn earlier in the descent plan. If that doesn't work, the big red abort button can be used to blow it up at high altitude.

Shivetya 12y ago

just the fact they can hit a barge after falling back from space impresses me. I wonder if there are any islands they could use instead, surely they had to have looked for one. Would a stationary oil platform work better?

noselasd 12y ago
They do launches with different trajectories, so you'll run out of fuel if the landing site is fixed and you're launching the rocket in another direction. Besides, you'll anyway need something to transport it back to mainland. If all this goes well though, the intention is to eventually fly it back and land it on the mainland.
vidarh 12y ago
A volcano base if one is to judge by Elon's tweets.

spectrum1234 12y ago

This is pretty fascinating and makes a lot of sense. You obv want to land very slowly, but going slow means less control to keep it vertical. So the clever work around is use thrust at the last second which will allow it to also be vertical and stable. And that means coming in from a non vertical angle beforehand which is exactly what they do.