31–40 of 391 posts
What you don't get a sense for in the video is the size of this thing... It's absolutely bonkers. 9m (30 ft) in diameter 50m (160 ft) in height (or would be with the nose-cone) That's the height of a 12-story building. And this is the upper stage of the full rocket.
This is the first time I've seen video of a starship test that didn't end in catastrophic explosion, so this is great news! I'm still worried about the overall design, specifically when it comes to landing. The current procedure is for it to fall into the atmosphere flat on its side, then continue to fall for a long time, and then only when it's near the ground it must reorient 90 degrees to upright and then do a fin…
The future is exciting!
This is the first time I've seen video of a starship test that didn't end in catastrophic explosion, so this is great news! I'm still worried about the overall design, specifically when it comes to landing. The current procedure is for it to fall into the atmosphere flat on its side, then continue to fall for a long time, and then only when it's near the ground it must reorient 90 degrees to upright and then do a fin…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The single raptor engine is offset from the center on this test, so it had to do some pretty quick and somewhat dramatic adjustments to keep things upright.
Why is it offset from center? To stress test the steering?
This test article uses the same layout for engines, but with one engine instead of three. So that one engine is offset from the center.
Their flight software is already capable of handling the multiple engine out-scenario and compensating for it, so there's no real reason for them to center the engine for the test article.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The single raptor engine is offset from the center on this test, so it had to do some pretty quick and somewhat dramatic adjustments to keep things upright.
Why is it offset from center? To stress test the steering?
What you don't get a sense for in the video is the size of this thing... It's absolutely bonkers. 9m (30 ft) in diameter 50m (160 ft) in height (or would be with the nose-cone) That's the height of a 12-story building. And this is the upper stage of the full rocket.
This is the first time I've seen video of a starship test that didn't end in catastrophic explosion, so this is great news! I'm still worried about the overall design, specifically when it comes to landing. The current procedure is for it to fall into the atmosphere flat on its side, then continue to fall for a long time, and then only when it's near the ground it must reorient 90 degrees to upright and then do a fin…
What you don't get a sense for in the video is the size of this thing... It's absolutely bonkers. 9m (30 ft) in diameter 50m (160 ft) in height (or would be with the nose-cone) That's the height of a 12-story building. And this is the upper stage of the full rocket.
This is the first time I've seen video of a starship test that didn't end in catastrophic explosion, so this is great news! I'm still worried about the overall design, specifically when it comes to landing. The current procedure is for it to fall into the atmosphere flat on its side, then continue to fall for a long time, and then only when it's near the ground it must reorient 90 degrees to upright and then do a fin…
Planes make 90 degree turns all the time! And in actuality this rocket could be less complex than a modern airliner as far as number of parts and processes.
They have taken huge leaps in engine technology with Raptor that allow for a lot of simplification across the rest of the rocket and which could make it airliner level safe someday.