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Speaking of which, are there any fan theories on why the boosters seem to have persistent issues? Or is the plumbing still churning fast enough that we keep see
by smallmancontrov 3mo ago
Speaking of which, are there any fan theories on why the boosters seem to have persistent issues? Or is the plumbing still churning fast enough that we keep seeing N=1 issues for successive designs?
- ceejayoz 3mo agoThe 12th flight was the first to use the third generation Raptors, so this is only their second flight test.
- laughing_man 3mo agoThe leading theory, from what I can tell, is slosh. The flip on separation is relatively violent, and while there's not much fuel left compared to the amount at launch, it's still heavy enough to do damage.
- staplung 3mo agoThe cast I was watching said that during the flip and boost-back the booster is pulling 11 Gs. That's a pretty hard hitting water-hammer for sure.
- smallmancontrov 3mo agoOof, yeah, one good slosh at 11G is probably all it takes. On the bright side, there is probably a trajectory that works and I wish them luck in finding it!
- jdminhbg 3mo agoUntil the past couple launches it was the ship that had the issues. Had to be blown up a couple times, failed to relight in vacuum, lost an engine and nearly failed to get to the suborbital trajectory last time. Meanwhile the booster had the most spectacular success in the catch, and has yet to result in a catastrophic failure.