Elon Musk hints at using a “giant party balloon” to recover Falcon 9 upper stages
In several tweets yesterday, Elon Musk said that SpaceX is considering using “a giant party balloon” to recover Falcon 9 upper stages.
No timetable was mentioned. It seems that Musk and SpaceX is still looking at ways to reuse the Falcon 9 upper stage. Whether this proposal ever makes it to hardware however is a different question. Musk and his engineers have floated many concepts over the years, not all of which have flown.
The balloon idea has some merit, as it has been successfully used to land landers and rovers on the Moon and Mars.
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In several tweets yesterday, Elon Musk said that SpaceX is considering using “a giant party balloon” to recover Falcon 9 upper stages.
No timetable was mentioned. It seems that Musk and SpaceX is still looking at ways to reuse the Falcon 9 upper stage. Whether this proposal ever makes it to hardware however is a different question. Musk and his engineers have floated many concepts over the years, not all of which have flown.
The balloon idea has some merit, as it has been successfully used to land landers and rovers on the Moon and Mars.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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You wrote: “The balloon idea has some merit, as it has been successfully used to land landers and rovers on the Moon and Mars.”
How would you use a balloon on the Moon? No atmosphere? Mars, sure, and there is a NASA program to test a ballute for this purpose (with no real success, they keep tearing it). But if SpaceX decides to do this, tetsing different ideas on otherwise normal launches odds of their licking it with dozens-30 tests a year seems more likely than NASA with a total of 2 or 3 tries and lack of success.
SpaceX is so much more interesting for their willingness to try and fail until they succeed.
geoffc: The balloons were used on both Mars and the Moon to provide cushioning on impact. The spacecraft bounced numerous times before settling on the surface unharmed.
Granted, SpaceX’s plan seems to involve an inflated balloon. Different engineering.
It has to be a ballute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballute
Armadillo Aerospace used a ballute in their suborbital-class rocket, last launched about six years ago. https://www.universetoday.com/93281/armadillo-launches-a-stig-a-rocket-captures-awesome-image-of-ballute/
Video of the ill-fated launch. They had problems with the attachment plate breaking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw11NFz14sA Deployment at about 3:25, failure at about 4:55.
A few months ago, Elon Musk openly tweeted out his personal phone number. He intended it to be a private message sent to John Carmack. Carmack was the owner and chief designer for Armadillo, and it is likely that Mr. Carmack has contributed to the Falcon 9 design, to some small degree. I have heard that the use of grid fins was due to his suggestion.
One other area where there could be contribution is through the usage of GPS guided parachutes. This was still an experimental procedure when AA and Wamore achieved this landing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV7zL07Tof8 I don’t know if SpaceX is using Wamore or someone else, or developing within house, but this type of system has to be what is used with the current faring recovery attempts. It is also what would be used to guide the 2nd stage back to a landing site.
geoffc-
check these out
“How we landed on Mars with NASA Spirit”
https://youtu.be/6t3IARmIdOI
6:32
and the companion piece–
Mars Rover Opportunity Landing
[https://youtu.be/daiUW_O6gOM]
(8:09)
Do we know how many times each of them bounced?
Curiosity’s Landing on Mars; How It Unfolded
>side-by-side Animation & actual Mars Descent Imager video
NASA JPL CalTech
https://youtu.be/W7e_k-_jzZg
4:05