DaFace |
07-18-2016 10:00 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by GloryDayz
(Post 12321024)
I get forward momentum, maintaining energy in a turn, centrifugal force, centripetal force, and all jazz, but after they use the cold-gas release to flip it, I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around how does a rocket get going back the other way to make it back over land (in the near weightlessness it's in)? At least not without another burn, or unless the flip is more of a slow turn to allow momentum to ultimately send you back the other way?
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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).
http://i.stack.imgur.com/3zJ0c.png
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.
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