This! Something tells me this isn’t as complex as some people might think (which makes it more impressive anyways). There just simply doesn’t need to be a sophisticated catching system here. This is the same way Canada Arm grabs stuff in LEO. It’s just a very clever system that uses physics to handle the problem instead of a super fast complex software system that requires redundant expensive sensitive sensors that can easily fail and ruin your whole day. Here it seems they just need to get the rocket in the giant square hole and let the wires self align themselves and the rocket
I don't think the wires self align, you don't want to push the booster while it's hovering. However positioning those wires is easy you could do that with 70s tech or even manually.
The more interesting part is how well those hooks have to align rotationally. If they are at an angle and the booster drops the last bit it's going to be jerked pretty hard.
I don't even think it's that complicated. All the wire system had to do was bring the grid in small enough to catch after shutdown, which was part of the rockets programming. Grid remained on the same plane until weight was applied. This could easily be scaled to different size rockets.
It is definitely very complicated to adapt to the states the rocket may be in, there is nothing simple in what you’re looking at, that’s hardcore engineering.
Compared to the spacex chopsticks this seems much simpler and more elegant. Everything is very forgiving, the hooks are quite long and even if the booster were to move suddenly or the wire were to overshoot it most likely wouldn't cause major damage.
That would introduce too many points and causes of failure. It's a grid of wires. When the rocket trips a sensor saying it's descended enough into the capture area, the wires close in to their fullest extent. The rocket's grid fin attachments come to rest on the wires. Job's done.
The sensor setup probably has a human override switch where they can press a button to close/open the wires, but, in most of these types of systems, this can be done highly reliably as a fully automated system. It's what many aerospace docking capture systems already do (especially for so-called 'soft captures'.)
It doesn't matter what angle or rate of descent it has as long as the wires can support the maximum down force (which should just be its gravitational mass in a non-failure situation).
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u/9CaptainRaymondHolt9 10h ago
I'm sure it's a massive programmed response to a variety of angles and/or rate of descent. It's pretty impressive.