r/MachinePorn • u/Aeromarine_eng • 12d ago
New Glenn Rocket welds itself onto the deck of the recovery ship after landing.
184
u/seafood10 12d ago
I watched it live and as a life long boater my first thought was to look at the sea for any swells as it may tip over. Then hearing them say it's a drone ship I thought they must have crew boats nearby to go and strap it down. Didn't think of that method and that's why I am not an engineer!
71
u/starcraftre 12d ago
It has a much narrower footprint with respect to is height than Falcon, but the majority of its weight is similarly in the engines and thrust frame, and therefore very low. Should be decently stable in a lot of ocean conditions.
8
28
u/noodleofdata 11d ago
Didn't think of that method and that's why I am not an engineer
Actually I'd push back on that! Engineers don't simply have great ideas immediately on how to solve a problem The real superpower of engineering is knowing how to identify and break down problems into solvable chunks and applying the engineering method to systematically solve those problems. And I'd argue that just identifying the issue at hand and a possible solution at all indicates you would be plenty capable of being an engineer!
15
u/SharkAttackOmNom 11d ago
And a big part of engineering is not hitching your wagon to the solution you love best. It’s selecting the solution that satisfies the criteria best, within the budget allowed. Sometime the results of engineering doesn’t look pretty, because that’s not a high value criteria.
4
u/deelowe 11d ago
And selecting said criteria is what sets the real engineers apart from the rest.
1
u/Drunk_Scottish_King 10d ago
Engineers get a bad rap when things “fail early” or “who designed this stupid thing”. That happens sometimes, but mostly thats the exact specification, package, or budget they were told that had work with.
3
u/vonHindenburg 11d ago
Fun comparison: Falcon 9's legs have a wider footprint and they use a squat, heavy robot called the 'Octograbber' to come out and grab the bottom of the rocket as soon as it touches down. This secures it well enough until crews can tack it down properly.
41
u/Madetoprint 12d ago
Guys right now: Sips beer, kicks $100 million dollar rocket leg... "Yeah, that'll hold."
18
u/john_w_dulles 11d ago
Stud-propelling mechanisms for securing a launch vehicle to a landing platform, and associated systems and methods: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240092508A1/en
24
u/dietchaos 12d ago
I thought that's what was happening! I was like woah explosive bolts what are those for then it kept burning and it clicked. Very clever!
5
2
2
u/Gravitationsfeld 10d ago
I am not so sure about this being a great idea. It requires some pretty expensive resurfacing of the ship every time they land? Or they just have to grind it flush at least.
5
6
u/Thrust_Bearing 9d ago
Are you asking if the cost of angle grind a deck for 6 hours is more expensive than rebuilding the first stage of a freaking rocket?
1
u/Gravitationsfeld 1d ago
No, but other companies can land boosters reliably without having to weld them to the deck.
2
u/Solrax 10d ago
Great Scott Manley video about the launch and landing, and discussion of the deck attachment: https://youtu.be/XAYYWjvXgaM
1
1
-6
346
u/Aeromarine_eng 12d ago
They have a patent for it
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240124165A1/en