3 ms·

They look otherworldly too. Recent NASA test: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UShD03eG9IU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UShD03eG9IU

• nielsbot 3y ago
  Was this a destructive test? Thing looks like it destroyed itself. (What's with the foil just flying all over the place?)
  • ridgeguy 3y ago
    Some of the instrumentation wire harnesses were wrapped in foil, which got ripped off by air currents driven by the exhaust plume. Foil wraps shield against heating by IR radiation from the plume. It's cheap but effective.
  • MilStdJunkie 3y ago
    The sound from these things can literally tear other nearby assemblies apart. Aside from the "clean flow" problem, this is another gigantic engineering hurdle to scaling these things up to a larger size. There's such a thing as too powerful.