Questions tagged [stage-separation]
Questions covering how different parts of a rocket with propulsion (stages) of a rocket disconnect from each other.
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Wouldn’t Super Heavy flip following stage seperation, even without help from its 3 lit engines?
At 1:40 on the SpaceX launch commentary, the announcer said that after hot staging, “the three engines still firing on Super Heavy will flip the booster around”.
With empty tanks, the center of mass ...
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Scattering of exhaust gases during Starship IFT-2 hot staging
Various footage of the IFT-2 of SpaceX's Starship show intriguing pattern of, presumably, exhaust gases illuminated by the Ship's 3+3 engines (attached below). While this may be an optical illusion, ...
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Could Falcon 9 push the second stage a little longer after MECO and before separation?
When watching Starlink launches I noticed the MECO/stage separation usually occurs at about 2m30s with the speed of about 8000 km/h and altitude about 65 km. After the separation the first stage with ...
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For Starship, using B9 and later, how will separation work if the Hydraulic Power Units are no longer needed for the TVC System?
On the SuperHeavy booster, the 33 engines break down into two sets, 20 outer engines that cannot relight (That equipment is actually on the pad itself) and cannot gimble.
The inner 13 consist of a ...
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Is the failure to separate Starship from the Super Heavy booster a "dumb failure" and does it tell something about the project reliability? [duplicate]
Sorry for the possibly dumb question, but I don't know much about rocket technology.
As I gather, the main problem in the recently failed Elon Musk's Starship launch was that the Starship "...
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Why did Starship separation fail?
After seeing the live stream: https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-test I was curious why the separation failed . The first stage went normally. Then it failed to ...
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Papers/studies about shedding aerodynamic lifting surfaces with booster
(This post has been updated to fulfil community guidelines on specificity)
Here's my relevant scenario:
A lifting-body Orbital Vehicle, and a turboramjet booster that (the most important part) ...
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Has asparagus staging (fuel crossfeed) ever been studied by a space agency?
There are two known examples of fuel crossfeed: The Space Shuttle and the Atlas. The Space Shuttle had fuel lines running from the ET to the main engines. Meanwhile, the Atlas fed fuel from a main ...
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What are the disadvantages of pneumatic stage separation systems?
What are the disadvantages of pneumatic stage separation systems over systems like linear charges, frangible joints etc?
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How is it provided for that the uppermost stage doesn't orbit with the capsule/satellite together?
After a spacecraft reaches orbit and jettisons its last stage, that stage would be in the same orbit too. What are methods to avoid this, or isn't it cared about?
In case of the Space Shuttle, the ...
user43968
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Rocketlabs: springs for stage separation?
Video of stage separation from Rocketlab's latest launch shows clearly what seem to be springs to push off stage 2. Are those actual springs? I've read about linear charges and pneumatic pushers, but ...
user39728
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What is the sun-lit aura/haze seen above the Space Shuttle post-ET separation?
Source: NASA, via YouTube
Watching that video for the nth time since 2011, I realized I never really asked what that sun-lit haze seen post-external tank separation is.
This is what I would expect a ...
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Multistaging and its issues [duplicate]
Multistage rockets have the benefits of trimming dead weight and using different engines for different heights. But do they have some momentum gain benefits too?
For instance, during their detachment, ...
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How common is the ejection of small objects during final stage separation?
Source: Crew-2 launch; YouTube (timestamp link)
That object seen moving right to left is the reason I ask. By playing the video frame-by-frame, it seems like it's a small object close to the camera ...
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Which explode in spaceflight more often, nuts or bolts?
The history of spaceflight is littered with exists because of exploded nuts and bolts (and upon further reflection, a whole lot of other items!)
"Exploding bolts" is really a generic term. ...
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