Surprised no one has mentioned this yet. I think it's a huge step forward!
Full video:
Surprised no one has mentioned this yet. I think it's a huge step forward!
Full video:
Rockets landing just doesn't compute in my brain. I know it's real but it looks like a reversed video!
It's pretty cool. Hopefully this will get costs down enough that space tourism becomes a thing.
A guy who has been at the forefront of big breakthroughs his entire career, but I was still surprised to find out Dan Gurney and All American Racers were a part of this. http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a27716/all-american-racers-spacex/
The really cool thing about it, and why it's only really possible with modern computers, is that you can see how the rocket is in constant deceleration right to the point of touch down. Kind of like the reverse of take off. It's the most efficient way possible, but also almost impossible under human control.
aircooled wrote: The really cool thing about it, and why it's only really possible with modern computers, is that you can see how the rocket is in constant deceleration right to the point of touch down. Kind of like the reverse of take off. It's the most efficient way possible, but also almost impossible under human control.
My experience in kerbal space program agrees with this statement. So many dead kerbals...
Yes, I found this gif of one of your attempts:
Rufledt wrote:aircooled wrote: The really cool thing about it, and why it's only really possible with modern computers, is that you can see how the rocket is in constant deceleration right to the point of touch down. Kind of like the reverse of take off. It's the most efficient way possible, but also almost impossible under human control.My experience in kerbal space program agrees with this statement. So many dead kerbals...
The hard part with a "suicide burn" in KSP is judging the right point to restart the engine by eye. The Kerbal Engineer Redux mod will compute that for you and give you a running counter telling you how many meters before you hit the point of guaranteed crashing. :)
aircooled wrote: The really cool thing about it, and why it's only really possible with modern computers, is that you can see how the rocket is in constant deceleration right to the point of touch down. Kind of like the reverse of take off. It's the most efficient way possible, but also almost impossible under human control.
Yup, called a "suicide burn". It can't hover. Even with only one engine in the cluster of 9 burning, and throttled all the way back, it makes more thrust than the nearly empty stage weighs, so that final burn has to be timed so it hits 0 velocity just as it touches the landing pad.
This also got me thinking about this old video game.
BrokenYugo wrote:aircooled wrote: The really cool thing about it, and why it's only really possible with modern computers, is that you can see how the rocket is in constant deceleration right to the point of touch down. Kind of like the reverse of take off. It's the most efficient way possible, but also almost impossible under human control.Yup, called a "suicide burn". It can't hover. Even with only one engine in the cluster of 9 burning, and throttled all the way back, it makes more thrust than the nearly empty stage weighs, so that final burn has to be timed so it hits 0 velocity just as it touches the landing pad.
It's funny to me to talk about the idea of throttle when we are discussing rocket boosters. I mean, yeah I guess you can control it some, but just funny to me.
I just imagine it's like trying to throttle a firehose with your thumb.
Yes, good for them.
See the smoke between the two light posts? That's from the rocket. I took this at the ball fields near our house.
I think the most amazing thing about the landing is it was on a barge, in the ocean, going every which way from the waves. In one video I saw, you can see the edge of the barge hit the water and shoot up in the air as the booster comes in. Just fantastic! If you notice also, the booster comes in at a slight angle. I don't think a human could react fast enough for corrections. Congrats to SpaceX
ncjay wrote: This also got me thinking about this old video game.
Man, I pumped SO many quarters into that back in the day.
Robbie wrote: It's funny to me to talk about the idea of throttle when we are discussing rocket boosters. I mean, yeah I guess you can control it some, but just funny to me. I just imagine it's like trying to throttle a firehose with your thumb.
You throttle a liquid-fueled rocket engine by controlling the amount of fuel and oxidizer that are injected.
I read somewhere that throttle control is somewhat limited in liquid rockets (still more control than solid boosters, which are on or off), but the Merlin engine that spaceX makes can be throttled down to 70%.
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