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SpaceX Loses the Center Core of Its Falcon Heavy Rocket Due To Choppy Seas (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: SpaceX successfully landed the center core of its Falcon Heavy rocket on a drone ship last week, but the vehicle accidentally fell into the ocean while in transit to the Florida coast. The company blamed the loss on choppy seas. "Over the weekend, due to rough sea conditions, SpaceX's recovery team was unable to secure the center core booster for its return trip to Port Canaveral," SpaceX said in a statement to The Verge. "As conditions worsened with eight to ten foot swells, the booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright. While we had hoped to bring the booster back intact, the safety of our team always takes precedence. We do not expect future missions to be impacted."
SpaceX does have ways to secure the rockets it lands in the ocean, including a robot known as the "octagrabber" that latches on to the base of the boosters. But because the center core connects to two side boosters, it has a different design than a normal Falcon 9 booster. So the octagrabber cannot hold on to it in the same way. The center core is a modified Falcon 9 booster -- one of three that make up the Falcon Heavy rocket -- which flew last week during the second flight of the Falcon Heavy. "Following takeoff, all three cores of the rocket successfully landed back on Earth: the two outer cores touched down on dual concrete landing pads at the Cape while the center core touched down on the company's drone ship named Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic," reports The Verge.
SpaceX does have ways to secure the rockets it lands in the ocean, including a robot known as the "octagrabber" that latches on to the base of the boosters. But because the center core connects to two side boosters, it has a different design than a normal Falcon 9 booster. So the octagrabber cannot hold on to it in the same way. The center core is a modified Falcon 9 booster -- one of three that make up the Falcon Heavy rocket -- which flew last week during the second flight of the Falcon Heavy. "Following takeoff, all three cores of the rocket successfully landed back on Earth: the two outer cores touched down on dual concrete landing pads at the Cape while the center core touched down on the company's drone ship named Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic," reports The Verge.
and its stupid water
holding us back from 3D printing human hearts in the asteroid belt
"You're gonna need a bigger boat"
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You do remember that the ocean contains vastly more rocket parts from Saturn V, Atlas, Delta, and Titan boosters, right? Picking on the one company that actually tries to keep their trash out of the ocean is pathetic.
Losing one reusable rocket is still cheaper than using three non-reusable rockets.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Why a guy wire? It could be a girl wire.
or, re-fuel and fly it home.
Perhaps they should come up with a way to lay the booster down on its side, once it's successfully landed on the drone ship?
Doesn't work. The rockets are not designed to handle heavy horizontal stress. They can handle pretty extreme vertical stress but to make them survive being on their sides that reliably would require a lot more reinforcements which means the rockets would have a lot more mass.
It likely has neither the internal structural strength to be laid on its side or nor the outer skin isn't strong enough to support its weight without a very delicate bed to lie it on.
The crane to do that would have to be massive. They already have a solution though, it's a giant Roomba that goes under the center of the rocket and clamps on like a giant weight like this, the problem is it's not yet compatible with the Falcon Heavy center. If the weather had been better they could have welded it to the deck, that's what they did before but maybe the conditions were too rough for that. Either way once they adapt the clamps this won't happen again.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
A bunch of armchair aeronautical scientists telling SpaceX how to fix their problem.
Please learn how to troll properly.
Pilot it remotely :) Obviously
[($)]
Perhaps they should come up with a way to lay the booster down on its side, once it's successfully landed on the drone ship?
Doesn't work. The rockets are not designed to handle heavy horizontal stress. They can handle pretty extreme vertical stress but to make them survive being on their sides that reliably would require a lot more reinforcements which means the rockets would have a lot more mass.
They could pressurize the interior after landing with something inert, such as nitrogen gas, which could give it enough structural strength to tip on its side.
Plain compressed air would work just fine.
The vessel is Autonomous
What safety is needed for the Team?
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
...Falcon Heavy's core seems to like the drink me thinks... Irrespective very well done.
Hm, I suspect the core is more engineered than the side boosters... might this affect the short-term calendar of work for FH?
> "Doesn't work. The rockets are not designed to handle heavy horizontal stress."
Nope.
They are assembled horizontally and set upright on the pad. When they get to port they crane them off the boat and lay them horizontally onto a truck. Grabbing it and laying it down is just a matter of engineering.
⦠but it probably doesn't make sense to do that if you can just grab it and hold it upright instead.
Grabbing it and laying it down is just a matter of engineering.
But there's no need. The center of mass is very low due to empty fuel/oxygen tanks, and heavy engines at the bottom, and the booster is already very stable standing upright. The only thing that needs to be done is grab the legs with an improved octograbber, so it doesn't start sliding around.
Perhaps they should come up with a way to lay the booster down on its side, once it's successfully landed on the drone ship?
It would require a crew to attach the booster to a crane and lift it, which is much more dangerous in rough seas than just quickly welding the feet to the deck.
And, even in horizontal position, it would have to be secured, otherwise it would still slide around and get damaged, or fall off the deck.
You do remember that the ocean contains vastly more rocket parts from Saturn V, Atlas, Delta, and Titan boosters, right? Picking on the one company that actually tries to keep their trash out of the ocean is pathetic.
No let's pick on this company. How dare they try and prevent equipment from landing in the ocean where it provides wonderful artificial reefs which have been shown time and time again to benefit ocean life in what is otherwise a wasteland.
A few months ago, having watched video of another (successful) F9 landing on "Of Course I Still Love You", I wrote to SpaceX, suggesting that they might consider stabilizing out-riggers for their recovery barges.
Specifically, I had something like this in mind:-
https://images.app.goo.gl/CyBo...
https://images.app.goo.gl/jiPX...
[ the first image shows an outrigger canoe, the second a mobile crane].
I think the crane example is a good one, because it shows that OCISLY you could modified with hydraulic rams that are set in a horizontal configuration, with flotation units attached to the extensible end. By carefully tuning the size of the flotation unit, it would be possible to set them up to act as a "dampening" effect on the waves experienced by the barge.
Obviously, I didn't get a reply - but then I honestly didn't expect one. Now, the linked article doesn't really go in to detail as to why the first stage was lost. It isn't clear if the first stage is left upright for transit or whether there is a folding crane aboard that can be used to lower it to the deck... If the preference is to keep it upright, surely it is possible to have a set of extending metal braces, again, powered by hydraulics, that can fold up from horizontal storage to a vertical brace position, then maybe simply wrap a loop around the circumference of the first stage, attach that to lines up to the top of the upright braces, and raise the support loop until it is just beneath the fold-out fins... That would stop the stage from toppling over, even in rough seas.
Who knows, maybe they will look at something like this...
Not the problem here: They are assembled horizontally but they aren't horizontal in a functional stormy environment. If one has severe enough waves to topple over a standing core (where almost all the mass is that the bottom in the engines), a sideways core isn't going to be happy in that environment.
An airstrike on the seabed... probably wouldn't be an airstrike. ;)
Perhaps they should come up with a way to lay the booster down on its side, once it's successfully landed on the drone ship?
Doesn't work. The rockets are not designed to handle heavy horizontal stress. They can handle pretty extreme vertical stress but to make them survive being on their sides that reliably would require a lot more reinforcements which means the rockets would have a lot more mass.
Wrong: take a look at the pre-launch videos. The entire 3-booster assembly is transported to the launchpad horizontally, on a specially designed carrier. It remains in full contact with the carrier bed as it (the bed) is hydraulically lifted to vertical.
I will grant you that implementing such a gizmo on the barge is not cost-effective. But putting in a new set of grapplers and tiedowns is almost certainly in the future for the OfCourseIStillLoveYou
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
maybe the stresses of the flight weakens the integrity of the skin? just a guess
To be honest I was wondering why they used a smooth deck instead of the a grid type used to land helicoptors on:
https://cramm-yachting-systems...
Yes, yes. i know: "rocket exhaust" - but there's nothing stopping you putting a grid surface over the deck to have something for feet latches and the octagrabber to hook onto for stability.
Frequently underestimated force of nature. You never really get the idea of the true power without experiencing it. I really have my doubts about the reliability of any floating landing platform. Better start thinking about investing in some concrete pylon if this landing at sea thing really is going to work.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Oh god you're a hilarious idiot.
Take your medications.
You couldn't END a shit properly.
Threats no less. From a cowardly keyboard warrior.
And calling out an AC while posting as an AC.
SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP IMMEDIATELY.
(Preferably from someone trained by Dr. Kevorkian..)
Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable