01-17-2015, 04:24 AM
Carnos Jax wrote:
I'm kinda surprised (more likely ignorant) as to why the guidance fins are so crucial to the final moments of landing (I figure the stage is moving too slow for the fins to generate much aerodynamic force).
Speculation on a space related forum I read was that the fins keep it oriented until the last couple minutes, then the smaller jets take over, but if the fins don't keep it mostly vertical up until the last minute or two, the control jets have a hard time correcting such large error... Plus, at least a couple fins stuck "out", and also made it harder to correct the lean.
Still pretty damn close, given that the first two wet-landing attempts were 'within 10km' of their aim-point.