Mon, Jan 18, 2016
Third Booster Lost While Attempting Landing On Platform At Sea
Different ocean ... same result. SpaceX successfully launched the Jason 3 ocean-monitoring satellite to orbit on Sunday, but the company's third attempt to land a booster on a floating platform resulted in the loss of the booster.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted a video of the landing on Instagram. It shows the booster touching down on the platform as intended, but then tipping over and exploding. "Falcon lands on droneship, but the lockout collet doesn't latch on one the four legs, causing it to tip over post landing. Root cause may have been ice buildup due to condensation from heavy fog at liftoff," Musk posted with the video.
"Well, at least the pieces were bigger this time! Won't be last RUD, but am optimistic about upcoming ship landing," Musk Tweeted after the landing attempt."
"RUD" is Musk's shorthand for "Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly"
"Definitely harder to land on a ship. Similar to an aircraft carrier vs land: much smaller target area, that's also translating & rotating," he Tweeted a few minutes later.
SpaceX has, of course, had one success recovering a booster following a satellite launch. That rocket landed back at Cape Canaveral after boosting 11 satellites into orbit for Orbcomm in December.
Geekwire reports that Musk was unable to get a permit to recover the booster back on land in California prior to Sunday night's launch, but the company is working to obtain approval for "Landing Zone 2" on the West Coast. However, Musk said that even if the Falcon 9 had come back to dry land, the result would have "probably" been the same.
(Images from Musk Twitter feed)
More News
From 2023 (YouTube Version): Legacy of a Titan Robert (Bob) Anderson Hoover was a fighter pilot, test pilot, flight instructor, and air show superstar. More so, Bob Hoover was an i>[...]
Get The Latest in Aviation News NOW on Instagram Are you on Instagram yet? It's been around for a few years, quietly picking up traction mostly thanks to everybody's new obsession >[...]
Aero Linx: B-52H Stratofortress The B-52H Stratofortress is a long-range, heavy bomber that can perform a variety of missions. The bomber is capable of flying at high subsonic spee>[...]
Altimeter Setting The barometric pressure reading used to adjust a pressure altimeter for variations in existing atmospheric pressure or to the standard altimeter setting (29.92).>[...]
"Knowing that we play an active part in bettering people's lives is extremely rewarding. My team and I are very thankful for the opportunity to be here and to help in any way we ca>[...]