SpaceX’s Starship rocket system reached several milestones in its second test flight before the rocket booster and spacecraft exploded over the Gulf of Mexico.

  • JohnDClay
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    1 year ago

    If the simulation showed a problem, they could have fixed it before launch. I’m guessing they don’t have a enough data to make a super high fidelity integrated model for all phases of fight, so they’d break down the sections individually. But integration always brings extra challenges.

    • iterable
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      1 year ago

      So they don’t have a physicist on staff? Or several? We have known the math for rocket science for some time. What data is it they need? When even NASA in the sixties has simulators.

      • JohnDClay
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        1 year ago

        I’m sure they have tons. But we don’t know the full thermo areo dynamics at hypersonic speeds and complex geometries, especially their effect on unconventional control surfaces across huge temperature and speed ranges. Some military companies have even bought flights on electron to get high altitude hypersonic velocity data on how the air behaves in that regime.

        • iterable
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          1 year ago

          So rocket science…the thing the world has been doing since the end of WWII. Weird how other rockets don’t have this problem…

          • JohnDClay
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            1 year ago

            You know of any other companies doing a belly flop maneuver? Or a reusable first stage with hot staging?

            • iterable
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              1 year ago

              How reusable? NASA had recoverable boosters How does math and physics change based on goals?

                  • JohnDClay
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                    1 year ago

                    No, the constants and dynamics in that flight regime are just not well understood.

          • buzziebee@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yeah it’s super easy that rocket science. Just plug some numbers into a simulation and off you go. It’s not exactly brain surgery.