18
votes
Why did the Falcon Heavy center core fall off the ASDS OCISLY barge?
The reports indicate the seas were high enough they did not want to send people on board to weld it down.
Further reports suggest the seas were up to ten foot swells, and remember that the ASDS ...
- 80.5k
8
votes
Accepted
When will the first use of the SpaceX rocket grabber be on an ASDS?
Seems like on the BulgariaSat-1 launch, the booster landed hard and used up the emergency crush core in the landing legs. This is the design case for the Xoomba, to provide extra support to a rocket ...
- 80.5k
7
votes
Accepted
From which direction was the Falcon 9 1st stage's landing approach (BulgariaSat-1)?
The landing had tighter timing than usual (see Why were three engines used for the F9 1st stage landing burn (BulgariaSat-1)?), which means less room for corrections.
Elon Musk tweeted: Rocket was ...
- 12.6k
7
votes
How does the Falcon 9 know where the landing barge/pad is?
The stage and ship both navigate to a preprogrammed GPS coordinate. It seems that GPS datum cannot be changed in-flight. Last-minute corrections are done via a radar on the stage.
AOS by the drone ...
- 130k
6
votes
What if anything makes launching a recovered SpaceX rocket from a drone ship implausible?
The barge would need some kind of flame trench, and you'd need some kind of rain bird system to absorb the acoustic energy reflected off the barge surface, otherwise you risk damage from the rocket's ...
- 2,350
6
votes
Accepted
Do the ASDS barges have mission specific equipment?
‘Autonomous’ is misleading. The ASDS ships are towed into position by an ocean going tug, and are supported by the Go Quest support ship. Once in landing position, the ASDS operates independently for ...
- 1,231
6
votes
SpaceX stage 1 reentry control?
I don't have any citation, but the first stage is doing all its own guidance and control; it would be insane to do it any other way.
The "acquisition" called out at about 80km altitude is ...
- 172k
5
votes
How does SpaceX plan to achieve reusability of the Falcon 9 *second* stage?
One possible thing which might help is to switch to methalox on the second stage to get additional performance to pay for grid fins and a heat shield. The subscale raptor engine they tested back in ...
- 221
4
votes
How does SpaceX get its boosters from the ASDS to SLC-40?
SpaceX has quite optimized its operations since the early days where they used commercially available cranes and SPMTs. You can watch it happen live on NSF's Space Coast Live 24/7 live stream. When a ...
- 20.7k
4
votes
What started the explosion on the crashed Jason-3 stage landing on the barge?
Combustibles (oil, fat or grease, but also asphalt) in contact with liquid oxygen may explode on ignition or impact. See these links 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. This NASA document is about tests on ...
- 49.5k
4
votes
Accepted
Has F9 landed on ships in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans?
There are two ASDS ships.
Just Read the Instructions (JRTI) which was first deployed on the Marmac 300 hull, never successfully landed a stage, had its wings removed and moved over to a newer hull (...
- 80.5k
2
votes
Has F9 landed on ships in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans?
Yes. Actually the Wikipedia article you cite has good info. :-)
Most of the successful drone landings have been on OCISLY (Of Course I Still Love You) in the Atlantic. However, on Jan 14, 2017, there ...
- 845
2
votes
What if anything makes launching a recovered SpaceX rocket from a drone ship implausible?
The engineering issues you mention would not present any serious problems - in general anything you can build on land could also be built on top of a sufficiently large ship, and between Sea Launch ...
- 2,267
2
votes
What if anything makes launching a recovered SpaceX rocket from a drone ship implausible?
There are no fundamental physics problems with launching from a floating platform in the sea - the comany Sea Launch has been doing it for years, though in their case it's more a converted oil ...
- 1,705
1
vote
What if anything makes launching a recovered SpaceX rocket from a drone ship implausible?
The first problem I see are the frangible legs. Even if Falcon 9 could retract them (not sure if it can; doubt it) they absorb part of the shock by crumpling a part of internal structure, which then ...
- 56k
1
vote
Accepted
Do the SpaceX ASDS orient themselves in a particular direction before a landing? Is there a "landing ellipse"?
The general consensus amongst the barge-stalkers in Reddit and the NSF forums is that the ASDS aligns itself long wise into the waves. This allows it to minimize rockings as it is longer than the ...
- 80.5k
1
vote
SpaceX stage 1 reentry control?
The drone ship acts as a relay for telemetry from the rocket to ground control, that's the signal being acquired.
It probably also feeds location and weather information to the rocket for last minute ...
- 793
1
vote
Why does the video feed always fail during Falcon 9 landings?
Update 2: It doesn't!
Screenshots from GPS III Space Vehicle 05 Mission June 17, 2021, (video cued at T+ 07:52) which shows continuous video coverage all the way ...
- 151k
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