Re:New Shepard: Bezos claims success on second spaceship flight
by alienasa on Tuesday November 24, 2015 @09:49AM
(#10620998)
Further point of clarification, the SpaceX booster has more thrust than it weighs because it is capable of delivering payloads to orbit, which the Blue Origin booster cannot do.
Re:New Shepard: Bezos claims success on second spaceship flight
by ggreer on Tuesday November 24, 2015 @01:38PM
(#10622563)
All rockets have more thrust than their weight, otherwise they would not get off the ground.
Hover ability comes from having a rocket engine that can throttle down enough to match the weight of the almost-empty rocket. Blue Origin's BE-3 can throttle down to 20% of its design thrust, possibly lower.[1] SpaceX's Merlin 1D can throttle down to 70%.[2] Apparently, even with only one of the nine engines firing, it's enough to lift the almost-empty Falcon 9 first stage.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BE-3
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(rocket_engine_family)#...
To jump in with the inevitable SpaceX comparison. Worth noting is you see the Blue Origin booster: fall, slow, hover, correct any drift, descend then land. The SpaceX booster cannot hover, it has more thrust than it weighs.