/sci/ - Science & Math

quick FAQ about fairings & Steve

>what's the deal with Mr Steven?
Mr Steven is a 60 meter long, highly maneuverable boat. It is currently being leased by SpaceX.
>why does it have a gigantic net?
To catch fairings, after they separate from the Falcon 9 2nd stage
>why catch them, and not just let them hit the ocean?
The seawater wrecks the fancy composite fairing, so a method of keeping them from touching the water is needed
>why recover them anyways?
The fairings cost three million dollars each. Together, they make up 10% of the cost of an entire Falcon 9. To reuse them would mean big cash savings for each launch; plus, SpaceX wants to avoid being cadence-limited by their autoclave, which can only produce a certain number of fairings per month.
>is this launch the first time Mr Steven is being used?
No, but it is the first time that Mr Steven's new, 4x larger net is going to be tested. So far, no fairings have been caught by Mr Steven—but some got really close (thus the new larger net area)
>will there be a stream of Mr Steven for this launch?
Maybe, but it might be too dark to see anything.
>does Mr Steven move to catch the fairings, or do the fairings move to 'hit' the boat?
A bit of both. The fairings have steerable parafoils, and Mr Steven has powerful omnidirectional thrusters