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Sunday, October 13, 2024

Mechazilla Snags Booster In Mid-Air


Mechanical SpaceX arms catch Starship rocket booster back at the launch pad
Associated Press

I admit I thought this scheme seemed a little far fetched when I first heard about it, but apparently they made it work. Thing to remember is that while the booster weighs a zillion tons when it is launched on account of it being full of fuel, when it comes back down it is nearly empty. It's like full can of beer when it is sitting on the launch pad and like an empty beer can when it comes back down. Somebody should do the math. I'll bet it's pretty dang close.


P. S. Did the math:

EmptyFullUnitsRatio
Beer Can14372grams26.6
SpaceX Booster275,0003,675,000kilograms13.4

The empty beer can is half the weight it would be if the same ration held for both containers. Think all those rocket engines in the base might have something to do with it?

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