HomeAerospace Engineering & Orbital MechanicsBooster Catch: Chopstick Tower Landing

Booster Catch: Chopstick Tower Landing

Fly a reusable Super Heavy-class booster back to its launch tower: throttle and gimbal the engines to null vertical speed, lateral offset and drift so the vehicle settles between the catch arms instead of crashing.

Aerospace Engineering & Orbital Mechanics3DAdvanced60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 2D version
space-exploration-2026 ↗ Open standalone

Bring a reusable rocket booster home the way SpaceX's Super Heavy does it: not onto legs, but into the open arms of its own launch tower. You control throttle and gimbal angle on the final descent burn while a real rocket-equation mass model, gravity and a steady crosswind push back, and you must arrive at the arms' height with vertical speed, lateral speed and lateral offset all inside tolerance simultaneously — throttle harder and you fight gravity better but burn propellant and lose steering authority, gimbal harder and you correct drift but rob thrust from the vertical brake. Live readouts track altitude, both velocity components, remaining propellant and elapsed time, and the catch-arm gap doubles as a difficulty slider for how forgiving the tower is.

⚙ Under the hood

Fly a reusable Super Heavy-class booster back to its launch tower: throttle and gimbal the engines to null vertical speed, lateral offset and drift so the vehicle settles between the catch arms instead of crashing.

rocketryreusable-rocketsthrust-vectoringorbital-mechanicsaerospace-engineeringcontrol-systems

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install

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