Armadillo Aerospace Module Freeflight 2010_06_05

[skipplet]

That was freakin cool. Nice job.

[777christianboy]

WONDERFUL!!

[mjonausk]

Sweet!!!

[fpyout]

carmack is a god

[genusc]

Wow great job! I thought the rocket was going to ride the chute all the way down until it reignited.

[chupamiubre]

SCIENCE BITCHES!

No seriously the most amazing thing i have seen in a LONG time. Congratulations mate!

[rblink001]

The drogue is to keep the engine pointed down so we can relight for landing, consider a much higher flight where the engine is off of minutes!

A side benefit is we don't use as much propellant, but we can then drift in the wind. Tradeoff's :)

The pivoting around the drogue will not go slower with longer lines because it was pivoting at the top of the nose where it goes in to attach to the release mechanism.

[ZorkFox]

HOLY HALEAKALA. That was the most awesome thing I've ever seen. O_O

[Wallyponds]

Couple of reasons for the drogue: 1. you want to have the engine pointing downwards when you restart for landing (and shut them down to save fuel when you return from a flight to e.g. 100 km), 2. you want the fuel in the tanks to stay settled at the bottom where the feed lines to the engine begin, 3. the electronics (like GPS) might get screwed up if the vehicle tumbles/flips upside down on the way down.

[fizzguts]

VERY Impressive!

[Jinmane]

Shouldn't the strings attaching the drogue to the rocket be much longer? It might be a bit more stable that way.

[sexydorkmo]

whats the drogue for? that was a cool recovery

[melfik]

@sexydorkmo I think it for stabilization when the engine is turned off, so they dont turn over, thumble, etc.

[marsokhod]

@sexydorkmo Probably so they don't lose too much altitude when the engine shuts off.