Science Focus
original post »The April 15 launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster carrying supplies for the International Space Station went well, but the automatic return and landing of the booster didn’t quite work out. Although the rocket was able to navigate to the landing barge waiting for it out in the Atlantic Ocean, video released yesterday shows it coming down too quickly, frantically gimbaling its LOX/RP-1 engines to shed velocity and stay on target.
Today, new video has been released that shows the landing from a different perspective—from the landing barge’s deck. It’s a much closer view of the same landing, showing the booster slewing in from the upper right of the frame. It appears that, at the last moment, the rocket managed to handle its excess of vertical velocity. But that didn't leave it enough time for it to handle its horizontal velocity or the large yaw motion introduced by swinging into position—when it does touch down, it does so at a significant angle.
The small cold-nitrogen reaction control jets near the booster’s apex can be seen frantically attempting to keep the stack upright, but the rocket is already past its tipping point and the jets simply don’t have the thrust. The explosion is only a few frames long, but it’s pretty spectacular.
Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
#science
» see original post http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/science/~3/kYxSyynv530/
See Zazzle gifts tagged with 'science'
No comments:
Post a Comment