There and back again, a fruit fly's tale [Video]

I noticed in the final simulation that sometimes the design re-enters on the opposite end of the payload than I'd planned. Rather than adding more ablative steel I had a bit of a rummage through the other equipment we already have. I decided to re-purpose a thrust plate. Thrust plates are designed for separating fuel tanks from rocket engine(s) and allowing the mounting of multiple engines. Since they sit directly above rocket engines, they are rated for around 2000K instead of the 700K of steel, making them effective as heat shields for our purposes.

As you can see, the flight went well:

 aaaand touchdown:



Our payload returned successfully and we're now drowning in Science™! We also have enough money to fund the Y-Plane project, finally coming up next...


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