Revealed: SpaceX's Changed Plans to Catch a Starship Booster!

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Note: the suicide burn is not 100% without margin, because the engines can be throttled. If you time your engine ignition so that you anticipate landing in the middle of your throttle range, you have room in both directions to move your v0 point upwards and downwards.

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The simplest and safest way to catch the Starship is to use a second Magazilla with no stand or fuel connections. And using the crawlers to take it away once caught.

This remains my favorite Starship update channel! Excitement guaranteed!

One important detail — hovering is much less efficient than the suicide burn, since every second you're in the air with the engines running requires extra fuel in the tanks. So while Starship can hover, minimising that period will be critical to maximising payload... long term, I suspect we'll see them cut that margin to the point where it's essentially doing a suicide burn onto the catch-arms.

the whole chopstick landing maneuver is just insanely ambitious, to the point I'm sure many of us are dubious as to whether or not it could ever work. But I'm sure a lot of us thought that about landing on a ship in the ocean too!

You know what would be cool is if mechzilla and the booster were connected on the upcoming landing so mechzilla is trying catch an imaginary booster and the booster is simultaneously running like its landing but out at sea.

@6:28 explanation was the suicide burn was the best part of this video for me. Refreshing to learn something new other than the same old same old water tanks, launch pads, mechazilla, what was assembled or disassembled etc...

I’m going into Mechanical Engineering, and your enthusiasm is one of the factors encouraging me to pursue such a complex degree!

This is my favorite space news channel!! Seriously! I recommend it in the comments sections of other channels when their viewers complain about their content. Thank you, especially, for the segment on how mechazilla will catch ships. Specifically, the screw type actuators for rotating the ship, catching to the side of the launch pad, and the less than catastrophic consequenses of a missed catch. Catching a ship seems comparable to using penciles to catch a single layered tube of tinfoil. The tower has such heavey duty steel that the thin walled ships will not hurt it much. Also, the ships will be mostly empty of fuel so reduced explosions. Also, catching to the side would reduce damage to the OLM. SUPER COOL!! 👍🏽😎👍🏽 Not mentioned, maybe not concidered, the water deluge could help extinquish fires!

I didn't think about this before, but catching the ships also puts them in tension when landing, not compression, which happens with leg landings... this could result in less stress on the ships and longer lifespans.

You answered questions I've had about catching the booster that no other channel has ever addressed. Thank yoiu Felix and your excellent team for providing the best information about Space X and space flight in general on YouTube

I couldn't begin to tell you how much time my brain and imagination have spent considering these scenarios. Fun video. 👍

I remember when SpaceX put a computer program out, for people to try and land the booster. Whoever made the most computer simulated landings got a job with SpaceX.

What’s up Felix and the team! Can’t wait for the fourth flight!

And in 10 years we laugh about ever having had problems with something that simple. It is amazing, though - dreams from 30 years ago suddenly happening.

I'm betting maintenance crews noticed a leak on that actuator. It looks to be hydraulic, so it could be as easy as replacing packing, or that could have been an entirely new assembly. I wouldn't be surprised if the ram was bent during launch.

One minute and 52 views , channels growing.

I had said a very long time ago that the door has to actuate down, and not from the side. Because it is open to the booster exhaust until the very moment it closes when moving from the side. But a door moving down is actually shielding the equipment when it only 25% closed because it is covering it from above.