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It's going to be one helluva show. Which ever way it goes. Best of luck to SpaceX
by YuccaGloriosa 2y ago
It's going to be one helluva show. Which ever way it goes. Best of luck to SpaceX
- bun_terminator 2y agoI don't follow these things often: How is this different than the four before?
- sjm-lbm 2y agoThis is the first time they are going to attempt to catch the booster using their launchpad. Either you'll see one of the most impressive technical achievements in human history, or a very cool explosion.
- Tuna-Fish 2y agoTheir launch license requires them to initially aim at the water, and only shift to aiming at their tower if both the booster internally judges it's in perfect health, and they send the signal from their control system. I think there is a reasonable possibility that something goes wrong enough at some point for the booster to go in the drink. But if that happens, maybe it'll be close enough to the shore that we'll get some nice video of it?
- jimrandomh 2y agoThis is also standard procedure for Falcon 9 landings. They would do it this way even if the launch license didn't require it, because they know the probability of some sort of failure of the booster is high, and they don't want to destroy the launch tower if they can help it.
- ttrei 2y agoAt the moment of landing burn ignition the booster will already target the beach near the tower.
- allenrb 2y agoElon has pissed me off beyond all reason these last few years but when he says “excitement guaranteed”, it’s the truth.
- bewaretheirs 2y agoFirst attempt to catch the booster back at the launch site. The "mechazilla" launch tower has two "chopstick" arms which are used to pick up and stack both stages and which are intended to be able to catch the returning booster and maybe also the returning Starship upper stage.
- bloopernova 2y agoWhat benefit does catching the booster provide? (Or, what's a good written guide to that system?)
- admax88qqq 2y agoDon’t need landing legs/gear on the ship. Saves weight
- thrance 2y agoIt allows removing the landing gears on the booster, which saves wheight, which saves fuel, which increases efficiency and reduces costs. It also avoid having to fetch the booster from wherever it would have landed.
- exitb 2y agoWhat others said is true, but I think the endgame is also to literally land on the launchpad, allowing for a quick turnaround.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 2y agoGiven that a lot of the landing failures we've seen started with a near perfect landing followed by the rocket tipping over, I suspect one benefit is that the contact point is now above the center of gravity and thus it can't really tip over. Of course, it can't tip over unless something fails or the rocket ends up in the wrong spot (and fails to get caught) and the previous tip-overs also had to involve failures (of the landing strut, in the latest loss) or landing in some way that isn't perfectly aligned.
- 1659447091 2y ago
- ben_w 2y agoThey're going to try to catch the first stage on part of its own launch tower.