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I believe you can start the second engine without stopping the first engine, then initiate separation and cut fuel to the first stage engines. A number of rocke
by sidewndr46 3y ago
I believe you can start the second engine without stopping the first engine, then initiate separation and cut fuel to the first stage engines. A number of rockets feature this design and have a way for the rocket exhaust gas to pass to the outside of the hull before separation occurs.
- kjs3 3y agoThe old Soviet Vostok did something similar with the third stage, AFAIK.
- m4rtink 3y agoYep, its called hot staging & was used on some of the Titans for example. Another even more conservative option is to ground start all your engines and then throw some of them away directly (original Atlas) or with a stage (R7/Soyuz). There are certainly some tradeoffs with this, such as making it impossible to use a proper altitude/vacuum optimized nozzle if all your engines are ground started.