why spacex rockets don’t burn up during re-entry?
In: 1
The boosters do not reach orbital speed, or anything close to it, and so they are going much much slower during their re-entry than something that has actually been in orbit and requires that kind of energy dispensation.
The reason things burn up in entry is the speed they are going and the amount of atmosphere they are compressing in front of them.
These are no longer at orbital speeds and aren’t really using the atmosphere as a brake. The speed are around 3 times lower than those for an orbital reentry like from the shuttle or dragon capsule.
They aren’t going fast enough, or at an angle conducive to burning up.
Additionally, they do a re-entry burn to slow the rocket down while it’s going through the thickest part of the atmosphere – although this is less to prevent burning up as it is potentially breaking apart.
The first stage just goes up and down, never getting to a very high velocity, more like just dropping a rocket from a high height with engines that can slow it down for a soft landing.
The second stage that deploys the satellites is orbiting the planet at a very high velocity, and it does burn up on reentry. SpaceX wanted to make this reusable too, but the burning up problem made it not worth it with too much added weight in heat shields and too much fuel needed to slow it down. So they’re accepting partial reuse until Starship comes online.
Do you mean the capsules or the boosters? The capsules don’t burn up because they have heat shields. The boosters don’t burn up because they’re not coming back from orbit, which means they don’t have nearly enough speed to heat up enough to burn up.
why spacex rockets don’t burn up during re-entry?
In: 1
The boosters do not reach orbital speed, or anything close to it, and so they are going much much slower during their re-entry than something that has actually been in orbit and requires that kind of energy dispensation.
The reason things burn up in entry is the speed they are going and the amount of atmosphere they are compressing in front of them.
These are no longer at orbital speeds and aren’t really using the atmosphere as a brake. The speed are around 3 times lower than those for an orbital reentry like from the shuttle or dragon capsule.
They aren’t going fast enough, or at an angle conducive to burning up.
Additionally, they do a re-entry burn to slow the rocket down while it’s going through the thickest part of the atmosphere – although this is less to prevent burning up as it is potentially breaking apart.
The first stage just goes up and down, never getting to a very high velocity, more like just dropping a rocket from a high height with engines that can slow it down for a soft landing.
The second stage that deploys the satellites is orbiting the planet at a very high velocity, and it does burn up on reentry. SpaceX wanted to make this reusable too, but the burning up problem made it not worth it with too much added weight in heat shields and too much fuel needed to slow it down. So they’re accepting partial reuse until Starship comes online.
Do you mean the capsules or the boosters? The capsules don’t burn up because they have heat shields. The boosters don’t burn up because they’re not coming back from orbit, which means they don’t have nearly enough speed to heat up enough to burn up.
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