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A comment on Rocket Lab - Reusability Plans for Electron Rocket via Helicopter Catching. Parent comment

Re:Rocket Lab - Reusability Plans for Electron Rocket via He... by mkl on Tuesday August 06, 2019 @09:20PM (#20631229)
I've only watched the animation, not the whole video, but it seems like this is missing a crucial step. It seems to show the first stage magically start moving backwards, rather than continue to move forwards (coasting) and use thrusters to turn around for re-entry down-range. I'm sure the actual rocket experts will have it right, but is it me or the animator that's misinterpreted things?
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Re:Rocket Lab - Reusability Plans for Electron Rocket via He... by russdill on Tuesday August 06, 2019 @09:49PM (#20631354)
It's just a combination of camera tracking and the acceleration of the second stage. The rocket follows a ballistic trajectory, there's no need for it to turn around. Or are you just thinking of orientation? The rocket will probably have RCS to do it's flip and re-enter with proper orientation.
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Re:Rocket Lab - Reusability Plans for Electron Rocket via He... by mkl on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @05:02AM (#20633020)
Yes, orientation. The orientation doesn't change on screen, and yet it's going thrusters first to the right, which looks like where it's come from.
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Re:Rocket Lab - Reusability Plans for Electron Rocket via He... by Taniwha on Tuesday August 06, 2019 @09:36PM (#20631297)
yeah I wondered about that too, I suspect it naturally arcs over and comes down heavy end first (a bit like a shuttlecock) with empty tanks the heavy end is the motors.
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