SpaceX published this video of the last moments of their attempt to land a rocket on a barge.
I think Musk's tweet after this bears posting: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/556105370054053889
Honestly, that's a sweeping success when compared to other attempts like this– namely, none.
I read Musk's AMA, but does anyone want to explain to me how... how... how landing a giant fucking rocket on a hard surface could end in anything other than what that video showed? I get that it's a huge success because of distance specificity and stuff but how the shit do you avoid the giant explosion?
1) Really good ACS(ystems). 2) Really good real-time processing and commanding software. 3) Really good thruster function. One of those things wasn't really good enough. But hey, sometimes it's even cheaper to just test by flying rather than perform several quadrillion analyses. Especially if human lives aren't on the line. They will have arranged for real-time telemetry data streams from the rocket, so they'll know exactly what it was thinking up until the moment of its tragic suicide. Ideally, you would see it float into frame more slowly and descend not unlike this. And I also find this really damn commendable. The technology has to be developed. Is it a better alternative to docking verrrrrry slowly with a pod flange like we're doing for the ISS? I don't know... but it's certainly more badass. This is how we're gonna pull up to space fuel stations. In self-driving rockets. Then we step out of our vessels to grab a fuel hose, and what are we wearing? Fuck! We're wearing spacesuits!! Not clunky, fat-suit 1960's crap, but streamlined spandex sex (we're all in really good shape, too, because... it's the future, of course).
I can speak only for myself, but if I were Elon Musk, and if I were not only rich enough but crazy enough to get into for-profit space travel, and if I knew a certain amount of showmanship counted for something in the public eye... ...well, I'd rather crash trains together like Gomez Adams than run another goddamn simulation.