Blue Origin Thread (merged)

[PB666]

36 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

Yeah, here's a MARMAC 304 from the manufacturer's web site, same kind of ship as Of Course I Still Love You, with a worker for scale. These things are big hunks of steel.

Thats a center welded double wide - unwelded double wide bargevtrains are as common a cockroaches in the intercoastal, Typically i never see more than the top 15 feet. 

[Motokid600]

Sorry for spam posting, but this is just amazing to me.

 

Check... That... Out. Look at that baby compensating for the lean. So now I wonder if it actively does this as the barge lists in the waves. Unless my eyes are just playing tricks on me here..

Edit: Yeaaa that might just be the camera angle. Because I know these legs dont use mechanical actuators.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Motokid600

[maceemiller]

Wow, wow and double wow.......I would love to land in KSP as good as this. Just wow

Blue Origin rocket in third successful test flight - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35960428

[KerbonautInTraining]

18 minutes ago, Motokid600 said:

Check... That... Out. Look at that baby compensating for the lean. So now I wonder if it actively does this as the barge lists in the waves.

Whoa! 

Does anyone know where the stage gets its hydraulic/pneumatic pressure? Some sort of APU? I doubt such compensation could be done without significant actuation of the legs.

[Motokid600]

30 minutes ago, KerbonautInTraining said:

Whoa! 

Does anyone know where the stage gets its hydraulic/pneumatic pressure? Some sort of APU? I doubt such compensation could be done without significant actuation of the legs.

That's what I'm scratching my head over. Because it makes no sense to have an actuator on these legs. So I'm wondering if there's a simple system that can move the pressure in the cylinders around so the legs on the leaning side have more pressure and resist.

You do this in KSP if you land on a slope. You lock the suspension on the legs going down the hill so the other side squats and levels you off.

 

Hmmm. The more I look at that image the more it looks distorted. The leg on the right side looks physically longer and the engine bells don't look quite right either.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Motokid600

[linuxgurugamer]

1 hour ago, Motokid600 said:

Sorry for spam posting, but this is just amazing to me.

 

Check... That... Out. Look at that baby compensating for the lean. So now I wonder if it actively does this as the barge lists in the waves. Unless my eyes are just playing tricks on me here..

Edit: Yeaaa that might just be the camera angle. Because I know these legs dont use mechanical actuators.

Camera angle AND fisheye lens

Edited April 13, 2016 by linuxgurugamer

[KerbonautInTraining]

4 minutes ago, Motokid600 said:

That's what I'm scratching my head over. Because it makes no sense to have an actuator on these legs. So I'm wondering if there's a simple system that can move the pressure in the cylinders around so the legs on the leaning side have more pressure and resist.

You do this in KSP if you land on a slope. You lock the suspension on the legs going down the hill so the other side squats and levels you off.

Obviously there has to be some sort of pressure for extending the legs... maybe a cylinder of nitrogen?

Actually, hang on, to actuate the legs you'd have to unlock them AFAIK. We've all seen how well that tends to go... fascinating stuff here.

Edited April 13, 2016 by KerbonautInTraining

[linuxgurugamer]

7 minutes ago, Motokid600 said:

That's what I'm scratching my head over. Because it makes no sense to have an actuator on these legs. So I'm wondering if there's a simple system that can move the pressure in the cylinders around so the legs on the leaning side have more pressure and resist.

You do this in KSP if you land on a slope. You lock the suspension on the legs going down the hill so the other side squats and levels you off.

 

Hmmm. The more I look at that image the more it looks distorted. The leg on the right side looks physically longer and the engine bells don't look quite right either.

Fisheye lens

[Motokid600]

Just now, KerbonautInTraining said:

Obviously there has to be some sort of pressure for extending the legs... maybe a cylinder of nitrogen?

Actually, hang on, to actuate the legs you'd have to unlock them first. We've all seen how well that tends to go... fascinating stuff here.

Those cylinders are indeed pressurized. I doubt they solely rely on gravity to pull the legs down. Not sure what it'd take to be able to move that pressure around on demand.

4 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Camera angle AND fisheye lense

I think so. There's definitely some distortion in that image. But... That rockets definitely looks like it's sitting at an angle. Look at the left side going up as opposed to the barge. It's not square.

[linuxgurugamer]

Just now, Motokid600 said:

I think so. There's definitely some distortion in that image. But... That rockets definitely looks like it's sitting at an angle. Look at the left side going up as opposed to the barge. It's not square.

Fisheye lens will do things like that

[Motokid600]

5 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Fisheye lens will do things like that

I guess. But look at the little mast on the barge as opposed to the rocket. And look at the horizon. There's definitely an angle there.

That image was taken seconds after landing so the rocket could've still been swaying.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Motokid600

[KSK]

Just thinking aloud but would you need actuators on the landing legs? Make them spring loaded (with decently stiff springs so you don't end up with wet noodle legs), have the upper pivot point above the booster's centre of gravity and presto - a self compensating system?

Edit - and is it just me, or are the cold-gas thrusters at the top of the booster firing? They could help keep it stable, at least for a little while after touchdown.

Edited April 13, 2016 by KSK

[sevenperforce]

10 minutes ago, KSK said:

Just thinking aloud but would you need actuators on the landing legs? Make them spring loaded (with decently stiff springs so you don't end up with wet noodle legs), have the upper pivot point above the booster's centre of gravity and presto - a self compensating system?

Edit - and is it just me, or are the cold-gas thrusters at the top of the booster firing? They could help keep it stable, at least for a little while after touchdown.

Yes, the cold-gas thrusters at the top were the first thing I noticed.

[Motokid600]

30 minutes ago, KSK said:

Just thinking aloud but would you need actuators on the landing legs? Make them spring loaded (with decently stiff springs so you don't end up with wet noodle legs), have the upper pivot point above the booster's centre of gravity and presto - a self compensating system?

Edit - and is it just me, or are the cold-gas thrusters at the top of the booster firing? They could help keep it stable, at least for a little while after touchdown.

The CoM is above the pivot point. 

 The only way I could see a self leveling system working without actuators is dynamic pressure that moves more pressure to the leg(s) that need it. But that would take pumps and valves... I don't know I think maybe the image is just distorted from the camera lens.

I hope we get more footage soon.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Motokid600

[Slam_Jones]

Looks like a heck of a ride... those last moments before the retro-thruster kicks in must be terrifying 

[sevenperforce]

Recovery updates....

I have been keeping up pretty closely with the live stream video to the stage 1 recovery. They have removed an access panel covering one of the engines and are going through what is apparently a pretty involved process. The workers are wearing fire protection suits, so they are probably setting up to remove the engine igniters.

[Kryten]

On 04/04/2016 at 1:55 PM, tater said:

The pad abort test was for commercial crew... unsure about the tourist capsule.

While the test was funded under commercial crew, the actual capsule was the same as the NS one. The abort motor is a big aerojet thing sat in the middle of the capsule, the retrorockets for landing are a separate system.

[KerbonautInTraining]

1 hour ago, KSK said:

Edit - and is it just me, or are the cold-gas thrusters at the top of the booster firing?

Probably not. Both sides would've been firing, and it looks awfully similar to the venting seen after the CRS-6 booster starts tipping over.

 

Edited April 13, 2016 by KerbonautInTraining

[tater]

So the last 3 flights have indeed been "all up?"

[The Yellow Dart]

14 minutes ago, KerbonautInTraining said:

Probably not. Both sides where firing, and it looks awfully similar to the venting seen after the CRS-6 booster starts tipping over.

 

On CRS-6, those are the thrusters. you can see that they are above the grid fins, and are multi directional, where as in the CRS-8 image above they are below the grid fins, so that is just venting.

[KerbonautInTraining]

1 minute ago, The Yellow Dart said:

On CRS-6, those are the thrusters. you can see that they are above the grid fins, and are multi directional, where as in the CRS-8 image above they are below the grid fins, so that is just venting.

I'm talking about the plumes that shoot straight up just as the thruster's plume withers.

[Kryten]

Just now, tater said:

So the last 3 flights have indeed been "all up?"

Sort of. Here's an internal shot of the pad abort vehicle, showing motor placement;

as you can see, the recovery systems are in place, but nothing else other than what looks like an avionics bench. There doesn't seem to be an ECLSS, and there are no windows. It appears the pad abort vehicle is the one being used for NS now; photos shared before the most recent test show it being marked as having done four flights, and photos of capsule recovery shared after made it clear the windows are just painted on.

[Motokid600]

Woot!

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/04/13/flown-falcon-9-booster-hoisted-off-landing-platform/

[The Yellow Dart]

1 hour ago, KerbonautInTraining said:

I'm talking about the plumes that shoot straight up just as the thruster's plume withers.

It isn't shooting straight up, look at the left side of the video at the same time you see them. No plumes going straight up, they are just pointed towards the deck cam.

[PB666]

17 minutes ago, The Yellow Dart said:

It isn't shooting straight up, look at the left side of the video at the same time you see them. No plumes going straight up, they are just pointed towards the deck cam.

There are two plumes that start shooting axis-up as CRS-6 is tilted around 30 to 45 degrees. Its starts at around 12/13 seconds and lasts until 15/16 seconds in the video.