Leaked video shows SpaceX rocket tipping over on a barge - and reveals just how close firm got to a perfect landing
comments
On Tuesday, SpaceX came incredibly close to landing its Falcon 9 rocket booster on a barge in the middle of the Atlantic.
Now, leaked footage reveals just how close Elon Musk's firm came to success, with a close-up view of the daring attempt shot on a GoPro camera.
The unverified video shows the rocket drifting onto its target before a gust of wind topples it over.
On Tuesday, SpaceX came incredibly close to landing its Falcon 9 rocket booster on a barge in the middle of the Atlantic. Now, leaked footage reveals just how close Elon Musk's firm came to success, with a close-up view of the daring attempt shot on a GoPro camera
The video, which appeared on Reddit, reveals how the rocket overcompensates for its extreme tilt.
A deleted tweet by Musk says that the rocket appeared to be suffering from 'stiction in the biprop throttle valve, resulting in control system phase lag.'
This means the valve designed to control the flow propellent and oxidiser to the engine wasn't moving fast enough.
As a result, the actions from rocket's computers couldn't be acted upon in time to correct the tilt of the booster.
Earlier this week SpaceX has released its own dramatic footage of its third attempt to land a rocket booster on a barge in the Atlantic.
The video, taken from a plane , shows the Falcon 9 booster lowering itself onto the platform, before exploding on impact.
Share this article
The maneuver was attempted following the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket a few minutes earlier from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Soon after the launch, billionaire SpaceX founder, Musk, tweeted: 'Ascent successful. Dragon enroute to Space Station. Rocket landed on droneship, but too hard for survival.'
The unverified video shows the rocket drifting into view in slow motion and floating onto its target before a gust of wind topples it over
Pictured is the moment of impact. A deleted tweet by Musk says that the rocket appeared to be suffering from 'stiction in the biprop throttle valve, resulting in control system phase lag.' This means the valve controlling the flow propellent and oxidiser to the engine wasn't moving fast enough
Landing the rocket upright was always going to be tricky. SpaceX once compared it to balancing a broomstick on your hand.
The autonomous spaceport drone ship is 300ft by 100ft (90 by 30 metres), with wings that extend its width to 170ft (50 metres).
Musk had put 50-50 odds on the attempt being successful and said that improvements to the design would happen throughout the year.
Despite being destroyed, the booster's flyback marks another step in the company's quest to develop rockets that can be refurbished and reflown, potentially slashing launch costs.
'This might change completely how we approach transportation to space,' SpaceX Vice President Hans Koenigsman told reporters during a prelaunch press conference.
The Falcon 9 is on now its way to deliver 4,300lb (1,950 kg) of food, clothing and science experiments to the ISS - including an eagerly awaited espresso machine for astronauts.
The supplies today arrived at the ISS.
The rocket was was due to take off on Monday, but the launch was scrubbed due to bad weather.
The video, taken from a plane on Tuesday, shows the the Falcon 9 booster lowering itself onto the platform, before a gust of wind sways it to one side
On board the Dragon capsule was an experimental espresso machine intended for International Space Station astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy.
'We're very, very happy to have it here,' Cristoforetti radioed to mission controllers in Houston today.
The Italians in charge of the project hope to revolutionise coffee-drinking in space.
SpaceX, meanwhile, hoped to transform the rocket business by landing the first-stage booster on a platform floating a few hundred miles off Florida's northeastern coast, near Jacksonville.
The booster managed to land on the barge but Elon Musk said that 'excess lateral velocity' caused it to tip over
Elon Musk tweeted this image of the booster coming back down to Earth. Musk had put 50-50 odds on the attempt being successful and said that improvements to the design would happen throughout the year
The booster was programmed, following separation 2.5 minutes after liftoff, to flip around and fly to the platform dubbed 'Just Read the Instructions' in the Atlantic ocean
Musk's plan is to reuse his booster rockets rather than discard them as is the custom around the world, to reduce launch costs.
First-stage boosters normally just slam into the Atlantic and sink.
The booster was programmed, following separation 2.5 minutes after liftoff, to flip around and fly to the platform dubbed 'Just Read the Instructions.'
The Dragon — the only supply ship capable of returning items intact — will remain at the space station until around May 21.
During a previous landing attempt in January, the rocket ran out of hydraulic fluid for its steering fins, causing it to crash into the platform.
A second attempt in February was called off because of high seas, but the rocket successfully ran through its pre-programmed landing sequence and hovered vertically above the waves before splashing down and breaking apart.
At liftoff time, the orbiting lab was soaring over Australia. The delivery of food and equipment arrived today
The launch sequence as it happened. All stages of the launch went to plan, except for the landing of the lower part of the rocket. SpaceX once compared it to balancing a broomstick on your hand
Musk recently unveiled the images of the Falcon 9 failed second landing after persuasion on Twitter by the game pioneer behind Doom, John Carmack.
The images show the rocket approaching the barge following last month's attempt. After it fails to reduce its speed, the rocket is seen crashing at an angle and exploding.
Billionaire Musk described the event simply as a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly'.
This is the California-based SpaceX company's seventh station supply run since 2012, all from Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX is one of two companies hired by Nasa to fly cargo to the station following the retirement of the space shuttles.
As well as a recently extended 15-flight, $2 billion contract with Nasa, SpaceX is working on a passenger version of the Dragon capsule and has dozens of contracts to deliver commercial communications satellites into orbit.
The company also is working on a heavy-lift version of the Falcon rocket, which uses 27 engines, compared to the nine currently flying.
The Falcon Heavy is expected to make its first test flight late this year.
While the booster landing didn't go to plane, the launch was successful. It took place at 4.10 ET from Florida under perfect conditions, after a attempt had to be scrubbed on Monday due to lightning
Put the internet to work for you.
0 comments:
Post a Comment