Any merit in a poll? Mid air recovery, support ship deck, RTLS, other?
I wonder if they could be recovered in a similar way to scaneagle by flying into a wire or net.
I don't suppose anybody makes a drone that could catch a fairing half?
just imagine immediately after the Falcon 9 lands a simple robot autonomously secures the rocket to the deck, while at the same time, two autonomous articulating boom lift type devices move to opposite edges of the ASDS and each position themselves to snag one of the fairing halves.
Quote from: Kaputnik on 02/21/2017 09:04 pmI don't suppose anybody makes a drone that could catch a fairing half?You'd need a BIG drone
Quote from: IanThePineapple on 02/21/2017 09:07 pmQuote from: Kaputnik on 02/21/2017 09:04 pmI don't suppose anybody makes a drone that could catch a fairing half?You'd need a BIG droneThe K-MAX UAV chopper can carry 2.6 tonnes. Used in A'stan.
Midair recovery would require 2 helicopters or drones.
I think you all miss the unspoken 'eventually' here. Why assume a full fledged recovery procedure at the first try? It would be enough to just have glidechutes or parachutes dumping the fairing into the ocean. Maybe even for multiple flight just to make sure they understand the behaviour. Only then go out with a retrieval method.Also it seems unlikely that the barge would be considered as a landing base since it might have a rocket sitting in the middle and no personal to handle the fairing half's after dump off. Not impossible but I would consider it unlikely.