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What the heck...
I wouldn’t rule that out. What other purpose could that thing serve?
Does the Crew Dragon have enough steering capability to hit a target that small?
Mike1080i
Member
Hmm... As I recall the original "bouncy castle" idea was for fairing recovery. Then I believe I read about it being discussed for second stage recovery. Using it for Dragon would be an interesting development.
Nikxice
Active Member
Without independent maneuverability there's no chance anytime soon of Dragon landing on that giant floaty. It's also pretty obvious that NASA would never permit a tug to tow it around the landing zone. A few months ago I recall the plan was for Dragon to splashdown, then be greeted by techs in inflatables. A ship would soon pull up alongside Dragon to hoist it onto the deck. The crew would then egress and eventually fly to shore via helicopter. In any case, it'll be interesting to see how this thing eventually gets implemented.
Any captions for what the three guys on the tug are saying? The one fella in the white hat using binoculars didn't look too thrilled to be spotted by the drone.
Any captions for what the three guys on the tug are saying? The one fella in the white hat using binoculars didn't look too thrilled to be spotted by the drone.
Couldn't Dragon use it's engines to steer while being supported by the parachute? For that matter, couldn't they use the retro engines to slow down at a low altitude, then pop the chutes and continue to steer with the engines to minimize unexpected drift? If the engines fail the parachute would still work, if the parachute didn't work, the engines could get it down to the water.
I was under the impression that NASA didn't like the legs and lack of landing system backup, not particularly the use of engine braking.
I was under the impression that NASA didn't like the legs and lack of landing system backup, not particularly the use of engine braking.
Once SpaceX decided that they weren't going to use Dragon for Mars then it would have been a waste of money to do all the testing necessary to get a retropropulsive landing approved for Dragon. It's still a great concept but once you decide to go much bigger with BFR/BFS then wasting time, effort, and money on something used very specifically and with no real benefit to the long term goal delays the overall goal.
We're on 24 successful landings in a row or 22 if you drop the experimental Falcon Heavy landings which did lose one of the three. I believe it is fair to say that SpaceX will be successful in any F9 landing it tries for. I fully expect the next FH landing to be successful with all three boosters in the future.
Actually, it wasn't the legs at all except in a very minor consideration. It had more to do with SpaceX unwilling to spend the money and time on all the testing that would be necessary to get approval for something NASA wasn't really interested in using anyway. As I mentioned to ecarfan, once SpaceX decided that landing Dragon propulsively wasn't something they were interested in anymore too, then dropping it was a given.
I'm not sure what the bouncy castle is going to be used for. No one on SpaceX Facebook has much of an idea either. SpaceX is having enough trouble catching the fairings and they have parachutes that steer. So there is no chance that SpaceX is going to be catching the Dragon on the raft with parachutes that have no steering capability. It will be interesting to find out what it is for.
Article on the "Bouncy Castle" from Teslarati:
SpaceX gears up for Crew Dragon's first recovery with a giant inflatable cushion
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SpaceX is installing the Crew Access Arm at LC-39A today:
SpaceX readies for installation of LC-39A Crew Access Arm, previews Crew Dragon – NASASpaceFlight.com
Photo credit to NSF member @Cygnusx112
SpaceX readies for installation of LC-39A Crew Access Arm, previews Crew Dragon – NASASpaceFlight.com
Photo credit to NSF member @Cygnusx112
Woo hoo! That is an exciting photo. Really looking forward to seeing the tower sheathed in some cool looking cladding so that it looks finished.
SpaceX is installing the Crew Access Arm at LC-39A today:
SpaceX readies for installation of LC-39A Crew Access Arm, previews Crew Dragon – NASASpaceFlight.com
Photo credit to NSF member @Cygnusx112
The surface of the water looks like it is directly under the floor of that device ie no bouncy??!!
Only SpaceX would design and build an architectural quality “gangplank”. I love it! It’s beautiful.
I love it! It’s beautiful.
Crew Access Arm:
And this has the potential to be a major event:
Edit: I'm going to guess that this will happen because of Starliner delays. Basically it means the demo mission becomes a real mission. This is similar to what happened a long time ago with CRS. The demo mission became an official mission dropping off a full load of supplies. In this case the crew will occupy the station for a full rotation.
Michael Baylor on Twitter
Edit: I'm going to guess that this will happen because of Starliner delays. Basically it means the demo mission becomes a real mission. This is similar to what happened a long time ago with CRS. The demo mission became an official mission dropping off a full load of supplies. In this case the crew will occupy the station for a full rotation.
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My favorite part of that news: it appears that SpaceX will move the astronauts from wherever they don their suits to the launch pad in Model X’s.
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