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.

  • iterable@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I wonder what the simulation showed was going to happen compared to the actual flight. Would give you a real metric of progress.

    • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      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@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        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@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          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.