Space X: Still Trying to Land on That Barge

The launch and Jason-3 satellite placement was a success, but SpaceX continues to have difficulty landing the Falcon 9 rocket on the barge.  An attempt yesterday met with failure again.  Choppy seas did not help.  I guess landing on a more stable surface, such as the ground at Cape Canaveral, is the trick. 

Here is a little more on the Jason-3 payload: 

Jason-3 is the newest satellite in a series designed to maintain long-term satellite altimetry observations of global sea surface height. These data provide critical ocean information that forecasters need to predict devastating hurricanes and severe weather before they arrive onshore.

Over the long term, Jason-3 will help track global sea level rise, an increasing threat to the resilience of coastal communities and to the health of our environment.

Jason-3’s highly accurate altimetry measurements will be used for a variety of scientific, commercial and operational applications, including:

• Hurricane intensity forecasting
• Surface wave forecasting for offshore operators
• Forecasting tides and currents for commercial shipping and ship routing
• Coastal forecasting for response to environmental problems like oil spills and harmful algal blooms
• Coastal modeling crucial for marine mammal and coral reef research
• El Niño and La Niña forecasting