3 ms·
It must be amazing working in a field where failure is almost as exciting as success. What's the main obstacle to slowing down and stabilizing the rocket on it
by mladenkovacevic 12y ago
It must be amazing working in a field where failure is almost as exciting as success.
What's the main obstacle to slowing down and stabilizing the rocket on its descent to the platform? Is it just a matter of speed or also the shape of the rocket and its center of gravity? Would a set of 3 parachutes might slow it down a little bit or at the very least straighten it before the rockets need to kick in saving some fuel?
- jccooper 12y agoSpaceX seems to be able to stabilize fine with RCS and/or their grid fins. The rocket design must be reasonably stable--even tail-first. I don't think incoming velocity is much of a problem. Terminal velocity is gonna be no more than 90 m/s. The engines on that stage are more than capable of slowing it down--and fast. In fact, they're too powerful--it can't hover.
- mladenkovacevic 12y agoIf it's a matter of control then all it needs is just a bit more fine tuning. My money is on success next time they try it.