Re:SpaceX Grasshopper 744m test flight [video]
by ChuckMcM on Saturday October 12, 2013 @07:18PM
(#6540808)
The challenge was that with the stage spinning they couldn't feed fuel to the engines to finish the retro burn. That is an issue. They need to work around that in the next attempt (either by not spinning or by allowing for it with a different fuel feed mechanism)
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Re:SpaceX Grasshopper 744m test flight [video]
by XorNot on Saturday October 12, 2013 @09:28PM
(#6541100)
Increasing tank pressurization would mitigate it, but I suspect it's a lot easier to plan to control the spin.
Re:SpaceX Grasshopper 744m test flight [video]
by ChuckMcM on Saturday October 12, 2013 @11:15PM
(#6541351)
It is a fascinating problem, you launch with one type of space craft and then you recover with a different craft (in terms of mass distribution, fuel supply, etc). I'd love to hear how the avionics deals with the two systems. especially given that most of the rocket systems I've seen internal descriptions of are very narrowly tuned to be critically damped around their launch parameters. Unlike say aircraft that are dealing with fuel weight management issues and load balancing.
I know Elon said he would release the videos, and I'm sure they will, this is definitly the kind of 'rocket science' that is very intriguing to me.