Quote:
Originally Posted by DaFace
While I don't claim to fully understand it myself, I think the key is that there's a lot more force being applied during that boost back burn than you'd think based on the brightness of it. It's burning a TON of fuel during that little arc to turn itself around and start heading back to land. The thrusters flip it around, the main engines are used to make it actually change direction.
I think this diagram is at least reasonably accurate (though it's boosting back further to make it to land).
Also, another thing to keep in mind is that the first stage weighs MUCH less at that point than the original rocket did (given that there's no second stage at all, and a majority of the propellant has already been used up), so it's quite a bit easier to slow down than you might think. |
That makes sense actually. We know they do barge landings because they "don't have the fuel", but that not having fuel might be a combination of pushing a heavier load up, thus not having that amount of fuel to use on the boost back. And I found similar drawings for those barge-based landings, I just didn't find one that was noted-up like that for land-based landings.
Perhaps a trip to SpaceX (to ask questions) would be a wise vacation for me...
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