/sci/ - Science & Math

>>12499691
A possible design is to use the motors/engines to slow the booster stage while it's in the upper atmosphere to the point that chutes can work, and then use a guidable parachute to bring the stage down. It won't be as fast or as efficient as propulsive landings, but it would be less software intensive in theory. The next issue with reuse that's as big as recovering the stage is the refurbishment. SpaceX has refurbishment figured out by simplifying the manufacture of their rockets and strengthening parts where necessary, but that runs counter to most common aerospace engineering philosophies and will take some time to unroot.

>>12054307
An idea I had was parachute assisted retropropulsive landing. It would go like
>Use engines to boost back to landing site or barge
>Use engines again for reentry
>Use engines to slow booster down enough for a chute to deploy
>Chute guides the booster to landing spot
>Chute and engines slow down the booster for a landing
It can be a viable low-tech solution to recover boosters, even if it only really works for Earth. IIRC EXOS Aerospace did something similar.

>>12037589
>typically I do drop tanks hanging off the side instead of engines hanging off the side, I've never needed two terriers of T/W ratio
I'm recovering my boosters, so I need an upper stage TWR of at least 0.9 to reach orbit before the game deletes the booster because it's too deep into the atmosphere.

Reusable S-IVB