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Comment by consumer451 | Hacker News Reader

There is a lot to talk about here. However, the bolts that fired from the landing legs into the ship's deck were really neat. [0]

It was likely one of the simplest things involved, but SpaceX never did this. It seems far simpler than SpaceX's OctaGrabber. I think you can buy something similar at Home Depot? (edit: I just meant the explosive nail gun)

[0] https://www.youtube.com/live/iheyXgtG7EI?si=zXnZ_lMAEoWjzpzg...

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One of their patents describes exactly that -- driving a hardened stud into the softer metal of the deck, essentially by using a gunpowder actuated nail gun:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240092508A1/en

They have also included a way to disconnect the stud from the leg afterwards, such that the deck can be tidied up conveniently after the rocket had been removed. This is a neat idea -- the damage to the deck should very localized, and the rocket gets secured quickly and without putting human welders at risk.

Blue also has a cute little elephant robot that shows up later in the stream. :)

BTW, while the pyrotechnic welding bolts are kinda neat, I do hope they come up with something else (electromagnets ?) eventually as it could be quite a hassle tneeding to cut the booster from the deck every time you land. :)

In the grand scheme of things supporting a rocket turnaround, sending somebody out with a wrench (to detach the harpoons from the leg) and a grinder (to smooth out the deck surface) probably isn't that big of a deal.

However, for an alternative that would be wild to see from a rocket: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beartrap_(hauldown_device)

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240124165A1/en

Cool! Thanks for that. So, it's recent, compared to the landing ship patent.

The weight of the landing legs is what made spacex go for the grab-tower

If you have legs harpooned to the deck on touchdown, presumably you can use much shorter legs (and therefore lower mass), as you're no longer depending on their length to prevent toppling?

Also, shifting compressive loads to tension ones

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