Brevard County, Florida LAUNCH ping.Let me know if you want on or off this ping list.
(not associated with the county government)
Posted on 03/11/2014 8:22:19 PM PDT by BenLurkin
SpaceX is nearly ready to Rock ‘n’ Roll with their first rocket sporting landing legs and slated to blast off this coming weekend carrying a commercial Dragon cargo freighter bound for the International Space Station (ISS).
... the path is clear for the Sunday’s (March 16) night time lift off at 4:41 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
...
For this Falcon 9 flight, the rocket will sprout legs for a controlled soft landing in the Atlantic Ocean guided by SpaceX engineers.
“F9 will continue to land in the ocean until we prove precision control from hypersonic thru subsonic regimes,” says SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk.
It will be left to a future mission to accomplish a successful first stage touchdown by the landing legs on solid ground back at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Much development works remains before a land landing will be attempted.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
Nice...
Cool. Very cool.
They are making progress on it very quickly.
also known as "trash, and other stuff"
Brevard County, Florida LAUNCH ping.Neither the article or its pictures explained why a rocket landing in the ocean would need legs. Very confused.
Neither the article or its pictures explained why a rocket landing in the ocean would need legs. Very confused.I had the same question. HERE is the answer:
SpaceX's ultimate objective is to fly the first stage back to a vertical landing near the launch pad, but Musk said Sunday on Twitter that the Falcon 9 will return to water landings until the company can prove "precision control from hypersonic [through] subsonic regimes."
Interesting it has four legs, 4 legs requires a level landing surface, 3 is better? must be a reason.
Strength in lieu of stability? Four thinner legs where three thicker legs might have introduced either a weight issue or some kind of aerodynamic instability?
Dunno. It could just be that the initial design had four and they just went with it.
Thanks. I read it too quickly.
Space X is about the only interesting thing going on in the space business these days. (...until a Mars rover finds a skeleton)
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