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Comment You advocate more censorship than I (Score 1) 75

No internet is more censorship than some internet, no matter how you gate it. And people will always figure out some way to get to what they want even on a "limited" network connection...

In the ACTUAL example here, Facebook is part of this and you can find any viewpoint you like on Facebook.

Comment Re:"Close" Only Counts (Score 2) 342

I must confess that most of my programs have bugs the first time I write them. I don't start over from zero when that happens.

The Wright Flier didn't get to San Francisco, but it started the path that led there. Actually touching down on the planned point, at the planned vertical velocity, is pretty good. They'll fix the rest.

Comment Re:Landing vs splashdown (Score 2) 342

The first stage is most of the rocket by weight. The second stage has one engine, while the first has 9. And as you can see from a photo, the second stage is much smaller.

What makes it recoverable is that it doesn't take much fuel to bring an empty first stage back down. It's really light when empty. They only use one engine out of the 9, for very short burns, to do that.

Comment Re:Landing vs splashdown (Score 2) 342

It's lighter to not reuse the hydraulic fluid.

It's an open loop system with pressurized gas pushing the fluid out and then it's dumped in the air. Pumps and whatever powers them have weight.

Remember that big fuel-required multiplier in getting any weight at all to 78 miles height and suborbital speed.

Comment Re:Landing vs splashdown (Score 4, Funny) 342

We could start with our already phallic looking rocket and then have it come down into something that looks like the world's largest inflatable sex toy. Elon Musk might have trouble living that one down. :-)

Yes, there have been many proposals to somehow catch the rocket.

Comment Re:No I don't agree (Score 2) 342

But we've seen Grasshopper and Falcon R9 position properly on land. Nobody's told us what the maximum wind was in those tests.

Musk alluded to a process control issue this morning and then deleted the tweet. It will take time to find out what the deal is.

Merlin 1D can throttle to 70% and the old 1C could go to 60%. Perhaps there's room for deeper throttling. I would expect that they'd try that before adding a new system and its weight.

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