"Rocket's eye" view of yesterday's landing

[Patrick W]

From Elon Musk's Twitter feed:

<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Onboard view of landing in high winds <a href="SpaceX on Twitter">pic.twitter.com/FedRzjYYyQ</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="SpaceX on Twitter">April 9, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

If that does not work look here:

Elon Musk (@elonmusk) | Twitter

 

[Skotty]

Gah! They need to use one of those cameras they use on NASCAR so they can clear the lens of debris. Still very cool though.

 

[palmer_md]

wow. I thought it missed the center of the ship after watching the landing video's live on Friday, but now seeing this, it looks like it landed dead center and then slid to the side at touchdown.

 

[ecarfan]

That POV is like I am riding the first stage down to OCISLY. Wow. And wow again.

The stage appears to have come down just inside the inner target circle, and then slid maybe 20-30 ft away from the center point.

I love watching the grid fins move slightly just a few seconds before touchdown.

 

[Grendal]

I've watched it a number of times. I don't think the rocket "slid" at all. I think it was zeroed in on the center point until the last 10' to 20' or so. As Elon said in his post, I think the wind just pushed the rocket sideways in that last moment before touchdown. There was a lot of wind and the large rocket has a lot of surface area to push on.

I can imagine that the targeting systems have a release point. We saw what happens in a last moment adjustment during the second barge attempt. The rocket was apparently on target then in the final moments veered wildly.

 

[palmer_md]

yes, it is hard to tell due to the debris on the lens, but it definitely moved in the direction the wind is blowing. You can see the "bounce and slide" on the long shot from the drone plane as well as the above video, and in combination, it looks like what you said, it stopped just inches or feet (hard to tell the scale of these things) from the deck and it moved in the direction the wind was blowing, and bounced and skidded to a stop. Its amazing how much the wind moved it.

 

[Grendal]

yes, it is hard to tell due to the debris on the lens, but it definitely moved in the direction the wind is blowing. You can see the "bounce and slide" on the long shot from the drone plane as well as the above video, and in combination, it looks like what you said, it stopped just inches or feet (hard to tell the scale of these things) from the deck and it moved in the direction the wind was blowing, and bounced and skidded to a stop. Its amazing how much the wind moved it.

I think these long shots give a false impression of how big the "ship" (Elon got mad at the conference when someone called it a barge) and the booster actually is. They are both enormous. The stage is around 130' tall, which is more than a 10 story building. The ship seems to be about 150' by 100'. Elon also mentioned that the tilt seen before landing was the booster reacting to the high winds. It was only in the last 100' or so that the rocket went vertical for landing. At vertical the booster can no longer correct for the wind.

 

[Yuri_G]

The bounce is clear in this zoomed in video.

Alasdair Allan on Twitter

 

[Skotty]

Perhaps they should just over correct on position based on wind direction and speed.

 

[Grendal]

I think these long shots give a false impression of how big the "ship" (Elon got mad at the conference when someone called it a barge) and the booster actually is. They are both enormous. The stage is around 130' tall, which is more than a 10 story building. The ship seems to be about 150' by 100'. Elon also mentioned that the tilt seen before landing was the booster reacting to the high winds. It was only in the last 100' or so that the rocket went vertical for landing. At vertical the booster can no longer correct for the wind.

I think this picture brings it into perspective what I was trying to comment on:

View attachment 171882

Tiny, tiny people