3 ms·
Might be, but those shock diamonds are not a great sign for their nozzles despite being beautiful
by DrBenCarson 2y ago
Might be, but those shock diamonds are not a great sign for their nozzles despite being beautiful
- skgough 2y agoCould you elaborate on that? Why would the exhaust reflecting off the shock wave cause damage to the nozzle?
- echoangle 2y agoI don't think it implies damage, but it implies that the exhaust pressure is lower than the outside air pressure (which you would not want for perfect efficiency). That's normal though because the first stage operates in a wide range of pressure, and you can only adjust it for one exhaust pressure. So mach diamonds on liftoff should be normal.
- adastra22 2y agoMach diamonds are absolutely normal and expected. Not sure what GP is talking about.
- cubefox 2y agoMaybe he means the New Glenn should have had aerospike engines.
- irjustin 2y ago> Might be, but those shock diamonds are not a great sign for their nozzles despite being beautiful Shock diamonds do not determine nozzle health/stability. The diamonds themselves are 100% part of nominal operation. What you're looking for is flow separation from the nozzle because it's under expanded leading possible instability. Scott Manly did a great bit on it[0]. [0] https://youtu.be/l5l3CHWoHSI?t=261 https://youtu.be/l5l3CHWoHSI?t=261
- Culonavirus 2y agoShock diamonds are normal for first stages. Unless you're smarter than BO/SpaceX/ULA engineers and want to tell us more, I call BS on your post.