Note: Only forum leaders may delete posts.
*HTML is ON *UBB Code is ON Smilies Legend
Smilies Legend
[i]The fairing, the big nose cone at the top of the rocket, that actually successfully landed as well. That was definitely cherry on the cake. The fairing has its own thruster control system and a steerable parachute. It is like its own little spacecraft. So the thrusters maintain its orientation as it reenters and then we throw out a parachute and this parachute steers to a specific location. I was just shown a picture of an intact fairing half floating in the ocean. It is the half without the logo. That is really exciting because that fairing is over 5 meters in diameter — you can fit a bus inside that fairing and it costs $6 million to make that fairing. And at one point we were like, "Do we try to recover it or not?" And it's like, "Guys, imagine you have $6 million in cash in a pallet flying through the air and it is going to smash into the ocean. Would you try to recover that?" Yes, yes you would. So rather than have it smash into tiny pieces, that looks quite promising. We'll have like a bouncy castle to land on and aim to reuse the fairing as well.[/i]
Contact Us | The Source for Space History & Artifacts
Copyright 1999-2024 collectSPACE. All rights reserved.