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Dragon can now use SuperDracos if parachutes fail (www.youtube.com)

submitted 1 month ago by ptfrd@sh.itjust.works to c/spacex@sh.itjust.works

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Steve Stich states at today's Crew-9 news conference that Dragon has a new contingency capability if all 4 parachutes fail; the SuperDracos will ignite prior to splashdown.

The Crew-8 return to Earth will also have this capability.

(He said this about 20 minutes after the start of the stream.)

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[–] ptfrd@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I like SpaceX's Sarah Walker, despite (or partly because of?) the fact that she tends not to answer questions from mere mortals (non-SpaceX / non-NASA personnel).

For example, at the Post-Launch News Conference, there was a question about pulsive splashdown (although that term was not used).

She seemed to imply that the capability would have been available for Crew-7 if it wasn't for a problem with one of the GPS sensors. (Was this problem known about well in advance of undocking? Would that be why they didn't announce the new capability at the time?)

She spent most of the time confirming the point I made in my first comment on this post, about taking into account any extra risks that this capability might add, and she said that it had taken "years".

She didn't answer whether it's available if the parachutes fail during a launch abort, nor tell us any of the (non-NASA) missions it has been active for (of which Gerst had said there were "several").

Here's the question: https://www.youtube.com/live/wwhfph1vGdE?t=32m30s (at 32:30)