6 ms·

For anyone curious about aerospike engines, Tim Dodd has a great in depth video on them: https://youtu.be/D4SaofKCYwo https://youtu.be/D4SaofKCYwo

loudmax 5y ago
If you'd rather read Tim Dodd than watch his video, here's the text version: https://everydayastronaut.com/aerospikes/ https://everydayastronaut.com/aerospikes/
- airstrike 5y ago
  Alternatively you can watch the video on mute with captions turned on, which is my favorite approach
  - Narretz 5y ago
    To me, that's like the worst of both worlds. You have text, but you can't read it at your own chosen speed.
    - airstrike 5y ago
      You can always pick a faster / slower playback speed in YT And you get to keep the images, which are not there for the text-only version
      - NikolaeVarius 5y ago
        YT maxes out at 2x, which is extremely slow
        gibolt 5y ago
        If you're on desktop: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-playback-speed-co/hdannnflhlmdablckfkjpleikpphncik https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-playback-s... Go beyond 2x!
        fastball 5y ago
        Love this extension. I watch almost everything at 2.5x now.
        RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u 5y ago
        No need for an extension -- I'm paranoid and rather not install anything unless absolutely necessary -- when a simple one-liner bookmarklet will do: javascript:(() => { document.querySelector("video").playbackRate = 16; })(); I make a few copies for different rates (1.75x, 2.5x, etc.); this is the one I use to fast-forward ads whenever my ad-blocker fails.
  - vultour 5y ago
    But... why? Having to read the captions prevents you from watching the video.
    - ErneX 5y ago
      People have been watching subtitled movies for decades.
      - FullyFunctional 5y ago
        Indeed, people outside of USA (and France, Germany, and a few others that dub everything) have lived with this their entire lives. Even today my wife and I watch with subtitles as it's not always easy to hear all of the dialogue over the other noises in movies/shows.
  - devoutsalsa 5y ago
    You can also play the YouTube video with your eyes closed to get the audiobook version.
Ajedi32 5y ago
In Tim's interview with Elon Musk, Elon mentioned[1] low combustion efficiency as one of the major disadvantages of aerospike engines compared to the more traditional bell nozzles used on Raptor. I wonder if Pangea has done anything in an attempt to solve that problem. [1]: https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=408 https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=408
- phkahler 5y ago
  >> Elon mentioned low combustion efficiency as one of the major disadvantages of aerospike engines If you haven't seen the SpaceX presentation on their combustion CFD software, it's a must see. They have state of the art simulation capability in this area - better than any commercial offerings.
  - bernulli 5y ago
    That was 6 years ago, hard to say what remained of that ambitious goal. Also, these guys aren’t with SpaceX anymore.
    - baq 5y ago
      Raptor has since exceeded its target performance, maybe they ran out of frontiers to explore?
      - bernulli 5y ago
        I don’t understand your comment. What does Raptor have to do with CFD method developments? What is the frontier? What does it mean to run out of frontiers? Shouldn’t there be more resources rather than fewer?
    - panick21_ 5y ago
      I don't think they stopped development of that tech just because some people left. They clearly invested massively in engine development from then on. I don't think they simply stopped. And Raptor has turned into the best engine ever since then. Likely the used lots of simulation in development.
NikolaeVarius 5y ago
I have no idea why people recommend this guy. Such bad 40 seconds wiki article reading with a annoying way of talking. A personality driven channel versus engineering
- mc32 5y ago
  If he just stepped back and kept his personality out of it would be much more tolerable.
  - datameta 5y ago
    His target audience is not the highly technical, but the public at large - including children. He's a space ambassador in that he wants to get the current and upcoming generation excited and learning about space. With that said, he has been able to get in-situ interviews with rocket company CEOs including his amazing 2 hour almost single take video tour with Elon Musk [0] where I was able see Elon comfortable in speaking much more deeply, candidly, and enjoyably than with any interviewer/reporter prior. Tim Dodd is no professional engineer but he really knows his stuff. His personality helps bridge the gap between the highly technical and the layman. [0] https://youtu.be/t705r8ICkRw https://youtu.be/t705r8ICkRw
    - mc32 5y ago
      That’s a good point. I’m not an engineer yet I prefer there be more description and less personality shining through; but you make a good point about target audience. And as you say he prepares for the material and does well to understand the experts.
    - tnorthcutt 5y ago
      Well put. Personally I love that Tim's personality shines through in his videos. His enthusiasm is infectious and just plain nice to see, IMO.
      - NikolaeVarius 5y ago
dokem 5y ago
From what little i've seen of this guy; he appears to have no actual technical understand or depth to anything he reports on and basically just echos pop science and press releases. Scott Manley, Curious Mark and Periscope archival footage comes to mind for high quality content to learn about rocketry and related technology.
- aero-glide2 5y ago
  I like him a lot, but recently in his tweet he didn't even know how pressure varies with area in a nozzle. I do think he should learn a bit more.
  - sourdoughness 5y ago
    He’s be the first one to tell you that he’s an amateur who is always trying to learn more.
- panick21_ 5y ago
  He actually interviews people who know what they are talking about and does the research. He has good contacts in the industry, better then most people. The video actually contains lots of information you can't find anywhere else. He spends a lot of time validating his videos himself with industry expert and then has a huge patreon community that goes threw everything and tries to find errors. He is an educator he doesn't have to be able to design his own engine to make good educational videos. And Scott Manley is also not an engineer and Scott Manley actually used Tims graphics in his own videos. Right now he is working on a 1h 30min video on Russian engines that is more detailed then anything out-there and he spend 2 years researching it.
- sourdoughness 5y ago
  I think that’s over-stating it. His content is deliberately designed to be accessible to everyday people, so it necessarily needs to be limited in depth and detail. Having heard him on podcasts and other settings, his knowledge seems plenty in depth to me (an amateur enthusiast who wants lots of detail) for that role. He’s not an engineer, and that’s fine.

loudmax 5y ago

If you'd rather read Tim Dodd than watch his video, here's the text version: https://everydayastronaut.com/aerospikes/ https://everydayastronaut.com/aerospikes/

airstrike 5y ago
Alternatively you can watch the video on mute with captions turned on, which is my favorite approach
- Narretz 5y ago
  To me, that's like the worst of both worlds. You have text, but you can't read it at your own chosen speed.
  - airstrike 5y ago
    You can always pick a faster / slower playback speed in YT And you get to keep the images, which are not there for the text-only version
    - NikolaeVarius 5y ago
      YT maxes out at 2x, which is extremely slow
      - gibolt 5y ago
        If you're on desktop: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-playback-speed-co/hdannnflhlmdablckfkjpleikpphncik https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-playback-s... Go beyond 2x!
        fastball 5y ago
        Love this extension. I watch almost everything at 2.5x now.
        RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u 5y ago
        No need for an extension -- I'm paranoid and rather not install anything unless absolutely necessary -- when a simple one-liner bookmarklet will do: javascript:(() => { document.querySelector("video").playbackRate = 16; })(); I make a few copies for different rates (1.75x, 2.5x, etc.); this is the one I use to fast-forward ads whenever my ad-blocker fails.
- vultour 5y ago
  But... why? Having to read the captions prevents you from watching the video.
  - ErneX 5y ago
    People have been watching subtitled movies for decades.
    - FullyFunctional 5y ago
      Indeed, people outside of USA (and France, Germany, and a few others that dub everything) have lived with this their entire lives. Even today my wife and I watch with subtitles as it's not always easy to hear all of the dialogue over the other noises in movies/shows.
- devoutsalsa 5y ago
  You can also play the YouTube video with your eyes closed to get the audiobook version.

Ajedi32 5y ago

In Tim's interview with Elon Musk, Elon mentioned[1] low combustion efficiency as one of the major disadvantages of aerospike engines compared to the more traditional bell nozzles used on Raptor. I wonder if Pangea has done anything in an attempt to solve that problem. [1]: https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=408 https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=408

phkahler 5y ago
>> Elon mentioned low combustion efficiency as one of the major disadvantages of aerospike engines If you haven't seen the SpaceX presentation on their combustion CFD software, it's a must see. They have state of the art simulation capability in this area - better than any commercial offerings.
- bernulli 5y ago
  That was 6 years ago, hard to say what remained of that ambitious goal. Also, these guys aren’t with SpaceX anymore.
  - baq 5y ago
    Raptor has since exceeded its target performance, maybe they ran out of frontiers to explore?
    - bernulli 5y ago
      I don’t understand your comment. What does Raptor have to do with CFD method developments? What is the frontier? What does it mean to run out of frontiers? Shouldn’t there be more resources rather than fewer?
  - panick21_ 5y ago
    I don't think they stopped development of that tech just because some people left. They clearly invested massively in engine development from then on. I don't think they simply stopped. And Raptor has turned into the best engine ever since then. Likely the used lots of simulation in development.

NikolaeVarius 5y ago

I have no idea why people recommend this guy. Such bad 40 seconds wiki article reading with a annoying way of talking. A personality driven channel versus engineering

mc32 5y ago
If he just stepped back and kept his personality out of it would be much more tolerable.
- datameta 5y ago
  His target audience is not the highly technical, but the public at large - including children. He's a space ambassador in that he wants to get the current and upcoming generation excited and learning about space. With that said, he has been able to get in-situ interviews with rocket company CEOs including his amazing 2 hour almost single take video tour with Elon Musk [0] where I was able see Elon comfortable in speaking much more deeply, candidly, and enjoyably than with any interviewer/reporter prior. Tim Dodd is no professional engineer but he really knows his stuff. His personality helps bridge the gap between the highly technical and the layman. [0] https://youtu.be/t705r8ICkRw https://youtu.be/t705r8ICkRw
  - mc32 5y ago
    That’s a good point. I’m not an engineer yet I prefer there be more description and less personality shining through; but you make a good point about target audience. And as you say he prepares for the material and does well to understand the experts.
  - tnorthcutt 5y ago
    Well put. Personally I love that Tim's personality shines through in his videos. His enthusiasm is infectious and just plain nice to see, IMO.
    - NikolaeVarius 5y ago

dokem 5y ago

From what little i've seen of this guy; he appears to have no actual technical understand or depth to anything he reports on and basically just echos pop science and press releases. Scott Manley, Curious Mark and Periscope archival footage comes to mind for high quality content to learn about rocketry and related technology.

aero-glide2 5y ago
I like him a lot, but recently in his tweet he didn't even know how pressure varies with area in a nozzle. I do think he should learn a bit more.
- sourdoughness 5y ago
  He’s be the first one to tell you that he’s an amateur who is always trying to learn more.
panick21_ 5y ago
He actually interviews people who know what they are talking about and does the research. He has good contacts in the industry, better then most people. The video actually contains lots of information you can't find anywhere else. He spends a lot of time validating his videos himself with industry expert and then has a huge patreon community that goes threw everything and tries to find errors. He is an educator he doesn't have to be able to design his own engine to make good educational videos. And Scott Manley is also not an engineer and Scott Manley actually used Tims graphics in his own videos. Right now he is working on a 1h 30min video on Russian engines that is more detailed then anything out-there and he spend 2 years researching it.
sourdoughness 5y ago
I think that’s over-stating it. His content is deliberately designed to be accessible to everyday people, so it necessarily needs to be limited in depth and detail. Having heard him on podcasts and other settings, his knowledge seems plenty in depth to me (an amateur enthusiast who wants lots of detail) for that role. He’s not an engineer, and that’s fine.