4 ms·
Less gravity losses is another advantage, that's true. I think it'd be interesting to see a breakdown of that 10% improvement number. Hot staging in and of its
by aw1621107 3y ago
Less gravity losses is another advantage, that's true.
I think it'd be interesting to see a breakdown of that 10% improvement number. Hot staging in and of itself resulting in a 10% additional payload capacity seems large enough that I feel it's rather odd that it isn't more commonly used. I'm curious how much of it is due to "direct" improvements from reduced gravity losses and how much is due to "indirect" improvements like (maybe?) not needing to save as much fuel for boostback.
A comparison against what a "Saturn-style" staging that uses ullage motors might achieve could make for a fun addition as well.
- lutorm 3y agoWell, the old staging method tried in the last launch was to rotate the entire vehicle stack and "fling" the ship off. That obviously has a performance penalty in that you're not going to be pointing in the correct direction when you come off. I don't know if the 10% was compared to that or compared to a hypothetical "straight" staging with pushers, though.
- bbojan 3y agoI think that was not intended, it's just that the control of the rocket was lost. The plan was just a normal stage seperation, just like on the Falcon.