SpaceX adds stabilizers to reusable rocket stages and provides floating landing sites for returning rockets.

Some media jokes that Ilon Musk is a man from the future sent to us in order to help humanity move on to a new stage of development. Jokes jokes, but he does a lot of things.

For example, now the company Mask continues to work on the creation of reliable missiles, made by technology «Grasshopper» (grasshopper). The goal of the project is the development of reusable rockets with vertical landing. Some results are already there, and they were written about them in Habré / Geeky, and more than once.
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However, there is something to be improved, and now the improvements relate to return stages. To ensure a reliable vertical landing during the return of the rocket, the engineers decided to equip the rocket with small “wings”. During takeoff, the wings are pressed against the hull, and during landing they unfold, giving additional stability to the ship. The rocket stabilization empennage will be tested already on the next launch of the Falcon 9. The rocket modification gives the operator more control over the rocket's landing angle, its speed and vector.



But this is not all, there is the second news. So, in SpaceX they create floating mini-cosmodromes capable of receiving returning rockets if they cannot land on land for one reason or another. It is reported that these “cosmodromes” are more similar in principle to equipment on drilling platforms than on ships.

Autonomous spaceport drone ship. Thrusters repurposed from deep sea oil rigs hold position within 3m even in a storm. pic.twitter.com/wJFOnGdt9w

- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 22, 2014

The accuracy of finding the platform in one place is quite high - the tolerance is only 4 meters.

Well, it remains to hope that all this will really help humanity to reach a new level of development. Many are waiting for this.