SpaceX Testing Landing Legs On Next Falcon9 Rocket

astroengine writes with news of SpaceX's next step in experimenting with vertical landings for rocket stages. From the article: "Space Exploration Technologies is installing landing legs on its next Falcon 9 rocket, part of an ongoing quest to develop boosters that fly themselves back to the launch site for reuse. For the upcoming demonstration, scheduled for March 16, the Falcon 9's first stage will splash down, as usual, in the ocean after liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This time, however, SpaceX hopes to cushion the rocket's destructive impact into the Atlantic Ocean by restarting the Falcon 9's engine and extending landing legs that will be attached to the booster's aft section. The goal is a soft touchdown on the water." The test is scheduled for their ISS resupply mission on March 16th 2014 (the mission also features the launch of the crowdfunded KickSat nano nanosatellites) .

Re:This will be really cool to watch

[cbhacking]

I look forward to is as well. Assuming it performs like the Grasshopper test platforms (which it really should, given that Grasshopper is basically just a Falcon 9 first-stage itself), they can bring it down, upright, to an accuracy of a few feet. Of course, that was from a much lower altitude than first-stage separation occurs at, and it probably won't have the fuel for braking thrust all the way down, but I still wouldn't be *that* surprised if they manage to make the incredible thing hover for a second before splashing. After all, without the upper stages and with the fuel mostly gone, the first stage is pretty lightweight... not a lot of inertia they need to counteract.

The other amazing thing about all this is that it's pure experimentation. There's no risk, aside from costs, if something goes wrong with this experiment. The payload will continue on up to the ISS regardless of what the first stage does post-separation. By using a wet landing, they avoid the risk of damaging anything on the ground. This is a chance to purely try things out, and it costs almost nothing more than the launch (which NASA is paying for) already would. A fantastic opportunity to try their models in the real world!