Elon Musk‘s SpaceX program test hit a bit of a snag yesterday afternoon, in the form of his rocket toppling over and blowing up.
The spaceflight company has been experimenting with re-useable Falcon 9 rockets, in the hopes of conserving engine technology and making space travel more affordable. Falcon 9s have been used in the past to make deliveries to the International Space Station, and as The Guardian noted, SpaceX’s program has been attempting to fine-tune methods that would allow rockets to safely return to fly another day.
While the company had successful tests on solid ground, Musk has seen instances of “rapid unscheduled disassembly” in past efforts to land a rocket on a drone ship in the middle of the ocean. SpaceX sent up another satellite as part of yesterday’s test, but as Musk showed on Instagram, there was a bit of trouble with sticking the landing:
Not long afterwards, Musk took to Twitter to humorously explain where things went wrong.
Definitely harder to land on a ship. Similar to an aircraft carrier vs land: much smaller target area, that’s also translating & rotating.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2016
However, that was not what prevented it being good. Touchdown speed was ok, but a leg lockout didn’t latch, so it tipped over after landing.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2016
Well, at least the pieces were bigger this time! Won’t be last RUD, but am optimistic about upcoming ship landing. pic.twitter.com/w007TccANJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2016
[h/t NPR]
[Image via screengrab]
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