Big Ass Rocket Launch

[Nic in Western NYS]

Amazing accomplishment, especially landing 2 of 3 of the engines.  I'm so old that I get irritated at things like:  1. Having to clap at your company's rocket launch; 2. Declaring your company's rocket launch a success before all elements are completed; 3. Not being transparent regarding the parameters of the launch, so when you overshoot your target by a few million miles, it's unclear whether that was a failure due to a thrust miscalculation or malfunction or whether it was intended to 'go as far as it could.' 

The amount of marketing and self-promotion is nauseating and wouldn't 'fly' with the old NASA crowd that got Apollo 12 through a lightning strike ('try SCE to AUX') and Apollo 13 around the moon and back with half the service module blown to bits.  Rant over.

Great accomplishment!

[john fish]

Nothing political intended.  It goes back to my previous comment about how nice it would be to have the money to send your car to mars, simply as ballast for your rocket.  Here's a man who's willing to take on a project that was heretofore simply too massive for a private enterprise to either finance or execute.  That's what I was saying.  If you want to make it political, it's on you.

Not being political, but Musk has benefited from over $4,000,000,000.00 in taxpayer funded assistance.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html

[oldbike54]

   






                                              <SIGH>

 Dusty

[bad Chad]

   






                                              <SIGH>

 Dusty

Plus one  <SIGH>

[Tom]

   






                                              <SIGH>

 Dusty

I must have missed something.   

[LowRyter]

Not being political, but Musk has benefited from over $4,000,000,000.00 in taxpayer funded assistance.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html

And if you've kept up with the news, you'll learn that the NASA expects to sell off the International Space Station in the next few years. 

Bear in mind the big Spacex rocket should cost 1/10 the cost of NASA's design.  I have an equal preference of ZERO for the one I want to fly.  So dying in a rocket at 1/10 the cost I suppose is a bargain.   

[KiwiKev]

And if you've kept up with the news, you'll learn that the NASA expects to sell off the International Space Station in the next few years. 

Bear in mind the big Spacex rocket should cost 1/10 the cost of NASA's design.  I have an equal preference of ZERO for the one I want to fly.  So dying in a rocket at 1/10 the cost I suppose is a bargain.   

Wait for Richard Branson’s space flights, they will be cheap (relatively) and safe (maybe)

[Aaron D.]

Maybe, but Branson's is the only current private space program to suffer a fatality. if memory serves.

[tris]

It doesn't get old watching those 2 boosters land 

However, I have an important question

Its clear that SpaceX can control the boosters to get them to land

HOWEVER when they land on the drone ship, even with stabilisers the deck will still be pitching, heaving and rolling to some extent, so what stops the booster sliding over the side and/or simply falling over.

Naval choppers use a harpoon to hold them to the deck. Do these boosters have something similar?

[Gliderjohn]

From tris:

HOWEVER when they land on the drone ship, even with stabilisers the deck will still be pitching, heaving and rolling to some extent, so what stops the booster sliding over the side and/or simply falling over.

This may help.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_spaceport_drone_ship
GliderJohn

[tris]

From tris:
This may help.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_spaceport_drone_ship
GliderJohn

Aha - that helps John

Operation
A tug, Elsbeth III on the east coast, is used to bring the ASDS to its oceanic position. During rocket landing operations a support ship, Go Quest on the east coast, is typically standing by some distance away from the crewless ASDS.[35] Following landing, technicians and engineers will board the landing platform, and secure the rocket's landing legs to lock the vehicle in place for transport back to port.[3] The rocket stage is secured to the deck of the drone ship with steel hold downs welded on to the feet of the landing legs.[36] In June 2017, OCISLY started being deployed with a robot that drives under the rocket and grabs onto the hold-down clamps located on the outside of the Falcon 9's structure after landing.[37] Fans call the robot "Optimus Prime" or "Roomba," the latter of which has been turned into a backronym for "Remotely Operated Orientation and Mass Balance Adjustment."[38]


After posting, I had found a report that said after the booster had landed, a bunch of lads jumped on board the drone ship and welded the steel pads on the feet of the landing legs to the deck - i.e. good old fashioned sea fasteners!!!

Give the rest of the technology surrounding this endeavour, I'm glad to see that there's a robot called Optimus Prime roaming about the deck to grab the booster