User:N2e/Sandbox/Launch vehicle landing gear
Launch vehicle landing gear
Landing gear have traditionally not been used on the vast majority of space launch vehicles. With some exceptions for
space programs.[1]
Each spaceflight system to date has relied on expendable boosters to begin each ascent to orbital velocity. This is beginning to change.
Recent advances in
test-vehicle with a large fixed landing gear in order to test low-altitude vehicle dynamics and control for vertical landings of a near-empty orbital first stage.[2][3]
The orbital-flight version of the SpaceX design includes a lightweight, deployable
aluminum extensible landing legs[4][5] will be approximately 18 metres (60 ft), and weigh less than 2,100 kilograms (4,600 lb); the deployment system will use high-pressure Helium as the working fluid.[6]
Refs
- ^
Hanlon, Michael (2013-06-11). "Roll up for the Red Planet". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2013-10-26.
the space race is flaring back into life, and it's not massive institutions such as Nasa that are in the running. The old view that human space flight is so complex, difficult and expensive that only huge government agencies could hope to accomplish it is being disproved by a new breed of flamboyant space privateers, who are planning to send humans out beyond the Earth's orbit for the first time since 1972.
- ^ Foust, Jeff (2013-10-18). "SpaceX wrapping up Falcon 9 second stage investigation as it moves on from Grasshopper". NewSpace Journal. Retrieved 2013-10-26.
- ^ Klotz, Irene (2013-10-17). "SpaceX Retires Grasshopper, New Test Rig To Fly in December". Space News. Retrieved 2013-10-26.
- ^
"Landing Legs". SpaceX News. 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-07-30.
The Falcon 9 first stage carries landing legs which will deploy after stage separation and allow for the rocket's soft return to Earth. The four legs are made of state-of-the-art carbon fiber with aluminum honeycomb. Placed symmetrically around the base of the rocket, they stow along the side of the vehicle during liftoff and later extend outward and down for landing.
- ^
"Landing Legs". SpaceX News. 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
The Falcon Heavy first stage center core and boosters each carry landing legs, which will land each core safely on Earth after takeoff. After the side boosters separate, the center engine in each will burn to control the booster's trajectory safely away from the rocket. The legs will then deploy as the boosters turn back to Earth, landing each softly on the ground. The center core will continue to fire until stage separation, after which its legs will deploy and land it back on Earth as well. The landing legs are made of state-of-the-art carbon fiber with aluminum honeycomb. The four legs stow along the sides of each core during liftoff and later extend outward and down for landing.
- ^
Lindsey, Clark (2013-05-02). "SpaceX shows a leg for the "F-niner"". Retrieved 2013-05-02.
F9R (pronounced F-niner) shows a little leg. Design is a nested, telescoping piston w A frame... High pressure helium. Needs to be ultra light.