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Ship 41 Makes it to Orbit, Booster 21 Nearly Perfect - NASASpaceFlight.com
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threelonmusketeers sh.itjust.works threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-10
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burble lemmy.dbzer0.com burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-06-28
#2 · Quote Reply

The engines out are still concerning, but it's good that it succeeded despite them. I wonder how much payload margin they have to keep for now because of that risk.

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Cocodapuf lemmy.world Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-06
#3 · (edited) Quote Reply

The engines out are still concerning, but it's good that it succeeded despite them. I wonder how much payload margin they have to keep for now because of that risk.

My understanding is that losing an engine has a variable effect on the launch, depending on when it happens.

Losing an engine early in the launch can have a really significant effect, potentially dropping your maximum attitude and preventing orbit. But as the rocket continues to burn, you're generally throttling down anyway. As fuel is exhausted the rocket becomes lighter and while you might have started with a 1.8 thrust/weight ratio, by the time you get to the end of the tank, at full throttle you could be at a 8.0 t/w. You probably didn't want to be accelerating at 8 Gs.

So late in the launch, if you were already throttling down anyway, losing an engine might just mean you have to increase the throttle from 30% back up to 35% to make up for it.

In short, often an engine out just doesn't matter at all.

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