3 ms·
The way the booster comes down is nuts. 90km to 1km in 100 seconds, it reaches maximum velocity under gravity at a bit over 20km, then air resistance acts as a
by bartread 2y ago
The way the booster comes down is nuts. 90km to 1km in 100 seconds, it reaches maximum velocity under gravity at a bit over 20km, then air resistance acts as a brake, and they only fire the engines to slow it down the rest of the way at 1km. Bonkers.
- dylan604 2y agoThe thing that tickles me is that it has to slow down to reach terminal velocity rather than the normal way of thinking about objects speeding up to reach terminal velocity.
- andromaton 2y agoWait a minute; we've been lied to!
- bee_rider 2y agoI’m probably missing something important here, but isn’t this true of most things that de-orbit into an atmosphere?
- gpm 2y agoThey're comparing to the average falling object not the average de-orbiting object.
- dylan604 2y agonot missing anything, but it's just one of those things about how fast orbital speeds are. yes, i know orbital speeds are around 17,000 mph. this is just another example of just how fast that is. a lot of people might be familiar with falling objects speeding up to get to terminal velocity which is kind of a speed limit for normal things. for de-orbiting spacecraft, this is just another milestone of slow speeds to achieve and not a limit of how fast it goes. sometimes just looking at things from a different perspective makes me smile on the relative nature of "fast"
- jccooper 2y agoYes, but that's not the case for most objects you interact with in everyday life. All, most likely, unless you're in a particular job.
- Paddywack 2y agoI’m not a scientist, but is it not at terminal velocity for most of the way down by definition? So it’s not slowing down to reach terminal velocity, it’s just that the resistance becomes higher thus reducing terminal velocity?
- lief79 2y agoTerminal velocity is the fastest speed it would accelerate to via the pull of gravity versus air resistance. In space, there is no air, hence no terminal velocity. If the object is heating up due to air resistance (and compressed air), then it's moving far faster than terminal velocity. The heat is from the air getting compressed and slowing it down.