Hey Chris,Since this is a video of a video, has the original been released. Assume it has better detail and additional content...
It is really hard to see in the video, but does it seem like the stage is not completely straight upright when by the time the video cuts out?
Quote from: AncientU on 08/05/2014 03:20 pmHey Chris,Since this is a video of a video, has the original been released. Assume it has better detail and additional content...SpaceX will be the ones to do that as noted in my post. Really looking forward to that!
It seems the camera switches between infrared and normal visual at around 16-17 seconds mark as it looks like a continuous shot you can make out a blurry falling object before the switch and no sign of lit up engines in those and after that we go directly to splashdown.
There's something to be learned from this video, when comparing it to the CASSIOPE "3 meter" picture (below).There was discussion back then on whether the engine "really fired" or whether it just "burped" and SpaceX was misrepresenting it as a "prematurely terminated firing" or some such. (The usual conspiracy theories)In that CASSIOPE picture, the smoke/vapor doughnut is well formed, and the engine is already off.In this video, we see that the engine ignites rather early, and fires for a pretty good duration before the doughnut forms, and surface contact occurs only 2-3 seconds after the doughnut forms.The conclusion is that CASSIOPE ignited and had a nice controlled burn before the engines starved - otherwise the supposed "burp episode" would have occurred too high to form the doughnut.
Quote from: meekGee on 08/05/2014 11:46 pmThere's something to be learned from this video, when comparing it to the CASSIOPE "3 meter" picture (below).There was discussion back then on whether the engine "really fired" or whether it just "burped" and SpaceX was misrepresenting it as a "prematurely terminated firing" or some such. (The usual conspiracy theories)In that CASSIOPE picture, the smoke/vapor doughnut is well formed, and the engine is already off.In this video, we see that the engine ignites rather early, and fires for a pretty good duration before the doughnut forms, and surface contact occurs only 2-3 seconds after the doughnut forms.The conclusion is that CASSIOPE ignited and had a nice controlled burn before the engines starved - otherwise the supposed "burp episode" would have occurred too high to form the doughnut.That's what I've long thought looking at the CASSIOPE photo. I'd heard talk from a SpaceXer that they came "very close" to a soft landing. Its obvious they got slow and within a stage length of the water before it went a bit pear shaped.