Daniel must be spying on me. :) As it happens the chute I use the most is about the same square footage (that's how canopies are measured) as two king size bed sheets. But for the record the smallest canopy on the market today is smaller than a single twin size bed sheet. But getting back on topic, here are Mr. Musk's tweets about the landing. Also some videos showing just how close they came to pulling it off: https://twitter.com/elonmusk patrick On 17 Apr 2015, at 16:49, daniel turner via Utah-Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
The rocket motor is much bigger and heavier than Patrick Wiggins so it would need to have a parachute that was very much bigger than the two bed sheets that he uses. That's extra weight that needs to be carried aloft which means less payload going into space. Plus an landing on land needs to be softer than a splashdown at sea. So an even bigger parachute and even less payload going into space. They are trying very hard to lower the cost of putting payload into space. Things will have to be done very differently to achieve this. DT
From: Joe Bauman via Utah-Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 12:45 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Space X music video
Crashing on a barge is even harder on electronics. Why not a parachute landing in the Utah desert?
Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 17, 2015, at 12:32 PM, Erik Hansen <zaurak@digis.net> wrote:
Some of the Shuttle boosters were reusable and required a lot of refurbishing, they maintain this is much more cost effective than the old.
Sent from my iPad
On Apr 17, 2015, at 10:01 AM, daniel turner via Utah-Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
Salt water doesn't play nice with electronics and light weight alloys. I'll wager the ATK modules that landed in the ocean needed to be beefed up for a considerable weight and cost penalty. DT
From: Joe Bauman via Utah-Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 11:11 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Space X music video
Still can't figure what's wrong with a gentle landing in the ocean.
From: Wiggins Patrick <paw@getbeehive.net> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 9:40 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Space X music video
But they got pretty close this time: http://aviationweek.com/space/video-falcon-9-close-call
3rd time will be the charm?
patrick
On 16 Apr 2015, at 01:02, Joe Bauman via Utah-Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
Why must Musk keep trying to land the stage upright without parachutes? Why not do it the good, old-fashioned ATK way and chute it down to the ocean and let it float until picked up?
From: Wiggins Patrick <paw@getbeehive.net> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 12:55 AM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Space X music video
Goes to show that the folks at Space-X have a sense of humor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yypBjVpDJZY&feature=youtu.be
patrick
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