While SpaceX is still working on being able to land its rockets on a sea barge, it has found success in tests with its Dragon 2 crew capsule.
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The Dragon 2 crew capsule will be blasted into orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, but it’ll be on its own to pull off a controlled landing.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft will be equipped with eight SuperDraco thrusters that would be used to slow the vehicle’s return to Earth through the atmosphere and ultimately set the spacecraft and its crew down gently.
SpaceX has shown off its new party trick with the release of a video of the Crew Dragon manned space capsule conducting a powered hover test. Though no one was aboard, the tethered mock-up craft managed to lift itself into a hover position using the its SuperDraco thrusters during a five-second burn. Propulsive landing is an essential capability for land humans on a planet without oceans, such as Mars.
The tests, which are taking place at a SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, allow engineers to refine the spacecraft’s landing software and systems, NASA said.
Despite the successful test, it would be wrong to expect to see the first commercial crewed missions using this technique anytime soon.
Despite the flawless performance, the thrusters won’t be used the first few times humans ride in the Dragon. NASA stated that while Crew Dragon is in the early stages of analysis, the end goal is to use the spacecraft to land humans on the ground with the accuracy of a helicopter. Instead, the capsule will splash down into the ocean under parachutes when carrying passengers.
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The commercial spaceflight company’s latest test shows the capsule hovering as it might just before landing, using eight high-powered “SuperDraco” engines.
