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Thursday, February 8. 2018

SpaceX heavy boosters landing

Two out of three ain't bad for a first try:




Posted by Bird Dog at 11:53 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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Rockets landing upright and on their tail fins just like God intended.

Well done, Elon.
#1 David on 2018-02-08 12:49 (Reply)
Gotta say - this is breathtaking.
#2 fodderwing on 2018-02-08 13:03 (Reply)
None of this would have happened if these rich guys didn't come along. Government (NASA) wanted to keep space exploration out of private hands entirely until they were embarrassed by having to hire Russians to put our own astronauts into space.
#3 Bob in Stafford on 2018-02-08 15:32 (Reply)
You might want to get a little better handle on your history before spouting. FedGov has been shoveling money to "private" for years. Spacehab is a prime example of the corruption. And good ol' Elon is sucking enthusiastically at the Federal teat. He merely hides it well because he owns the right people.

Musk is nothing more than P.T. Barnum reincarnated with less ethics.
#3.1 Mark Matis on 2018-02-08 15:41 (Reply)
It was that terminal landing burn that seems to have failed on the core stage out on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You", causing it to impact the water several hundred feet off target at a speed of several hundred miles an hour. They still hope to be able to recover the titanium grid fins, the aerodynamic devices that help control the descent, as apparently these alone make up an appreciable portion of the cost of the booster stage. None of these will be flown again, as they are Block-3 stages. Future flights will be done with Block-5 upgraded hardware.
#4 another guy named Dan on 2018-02-08 15:39 (Reply)
From what I understand, the hypergolic ignitors on the core were out of fluid.

And that'll be the LAST time that particular error occurs!
#4.1 JLawson on 2018-02-08 16:33 (Reply)
Real life is starting to look more like Star Wars every day. It's a little scary.
#5 Jim on 2018-02-08 16:59 (Reply)
From what I've read it's hypersonic aircraft and missiles that are THE next big thing.

Russia and China are into it big to defeat US defences and the US is in a race with both.
#5.1 David on 2018-02-08 18:25 (Reply)
NASA and the Pentagon have a enormous budget. Why is this being done by a private company?
#6 Ron Liebermann on 2018-02-08 17:53 (Reply)
Good question...challenges for govt. include inconsistent funding, attempting to be all things to all people (contractors in every state, trying to appease manned and unmanned space flight), changing missions (see: being all things to all people), and as part of all of the above, lack of long term focus. Elon Musk is driven to a particular goal, accepts risk and temporary failures, and can afford (I believe) to hire the best, and cut out the chaff. Government will likely never outperform a stellar company, but then neither do non-stellar companies.

I do understand that much of Musk's funding is government, but it's less egregious than government funded football stadiums.
#6.1 Mark on 2018-02-08 18:57 (Reply)

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