Rotatable Rocket Arm and Cable Capture for Sea Recovery
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The high cost and inefficiency of single-use rockets for space missions due to the need for heavy landing gear and the lack of systems for reusable rocket recovery.
Innovation Solution
A semisubmersible vessel system with supports, towers, cables, and straps to stabilize and reorient descending rockets for horizontal placement on a ship, utilizing a deballasting system to adjust draft and dampening systems to manage forces, allowing for efficient rocket retrieval.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If heavy landing gear is used for rocket recovery, then the rocket can be recovered and reused, but the rocket weight increases and mission capability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the heavy landing gear system from the rocket and extracts the recovery function to a separate ship-based cable system. The rocket uses lightweight boom arms with hooks instead of heavy landing gear, and the cable suspension system on the ship provides the actual support and recovery capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a cable as an intermediary element between the rocket and the ship. The cable, suspended from the ship, engages with hooks on the rocket's boom arms to provide suspension and recovery, eliminating the need for the rocket to have its own heavy landing gear structure.
2Reliability
If traditional landing gear is used, then the rocket can land vertically, but the recovery process is slow and complex
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of the rocket landing on the ship using its own landing gear, the patent inverts the approach: the ship suspends the rocket in the air using cables, and the rocket is lowered into position. This reverse approach eliminates the need for complex vertical landing sequences and heavy landing gear.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses dynamic boom arms that can rotate and extend to engage with the cable at various angles during descent. The boom arms provide adaptive engagement capability, allowing the rocket to connect with the cable even when approaching at non-perfect angles, enabling faster and more flexible recovery.
3Reliability
If heavy landing gear is installed on the rocket, then the rocket can be reused, but the launch payload capacity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The recovery function is extracted from the rocket structure itself and placed on the ship-based cable system. This removes the need for heavy landing gear on the rocket, preserving payload capacity while maintaining reusability through the ship-based recovery infrastructure.
4Weight of moving object
If a ship-based cable system is used, then heavy landing gear is eliminated, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The ship-based cable system serves multiple functions: it provides suspension for the rocket, enables recovery, and allows for positioning. The cable system is a multi-functional solution that replaces multiple separate systems, reducing overall complexity despite the sophisticated recovery capability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the reuse of rockets by eliminating the need for heavy landing gear, facilitating rapid stabilization and orientation, and efficient transfer to a launch site, reducing operational costs and improving mission efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The cable is configured to engage an attachment of the descending rocket to decelerate and suspend the rocket in a substantially vertical orientation thereon in the rocket receiving space
Implementation Method 2
The cable is configured to engage an attachment of the descending rocket to decelerate and suspend the rocket
Implementation Method 3
The strap is configured to partially surround and stabilize a lower portion of the suspended rocket when the first end of the strap moves along the first rail to the second end of the first rail
Implementation Method 4
The semisubmersible vessel is configured to receive and purge seawater to, respectively, lower and raise the supports in a direction along a z-axis of the system
Implementation Method 5
The system also includes a dampening system configured to dampen forces on the cable due to the attachment of the descending rocket engaging the cable
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for receiving a descending rocket, which may be at sea. The rocket may descend vertically with the nose higher than the nozzle. The rocket body may be angled as it descends. A boom arm with hooks may extend at an angle to the rocket body to engage a cable suspended by a semisubmersible platform at sea. The platform may include a dampened cable and lateral straps for securing and rotating the rocket into a horizontal orientation. The platform may receive a ship and purge water to elevate the platform for placing the horizontal rocket onto the ship.