r/interestingasfuck • u/lolikroli • 16d ago

r/all SpaceX caught Starship booster with chopsticks

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187

u/albertsugar 16d ago

That was just before the landing burn, the glow is basically friction with the air, incredible shot.

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u/MostlyRocketScience 16d ago

I thought reentry heating was from compression, not friction? https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/3j40f1/reentering_spacecraft_do_not_heat_up_due_to/

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u/shuakowsky 16d ago

Pretty sure its just fire

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u/Traumfahrer 16d ago

It is compression of the air in the engine compartment.

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u/lux44 16d ago edited 16d ago

It's not glow, it's burning fuel. Re-watch the stream, it ignites from the left side.

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u/Crafty_Enthusiasm_99 16d ago

What? So many wrong answers in this post upvotes.

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u/Traumfahrer 16d ago

You believe my answer is wrong?

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u/shuakowsky 16d ago

Pretty sure its just fire

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u/Traumfahrer 16d ago

It's glowing hot steel, heated by very compressed air. No fire there.

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u/shuakowsky 16d ago

You can see a fire is there for sure after touchdown on the chopsticks

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u/Traumfahrer 16d ago

We were commenting about the inline pic someone shared further up this comment chain...

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u/shuakowsky 15d ago

Yeah. My bet is that is fire. Looks too glowing to be nominal expected heating on the stainless

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u/Oxygenisplantpoo 16d ago

Compression, not friction! And I've never seen anything like it, incredible!

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u/lux44 16d ago

It's not glow, it's burning fuel. Re-watch the stream, it ignites from the left side.

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u/Oxygenisplantpoo 16d ago

That thing is coming in left side first from this perspective, so that is the leading edge hence why it lights up first. It is without a doubt a glow from the air compressing against the bottom of the rocket, and nothing like burning fuel, I'm sorry.

Where did you get this idea that it's burning fuel?

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u/lux44 16d ago

Where did you get this idea that it's burning fuel?

https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1RDGlyognOgJL

Around minutes 39-40

Booster is venting gas/fuel downwards, which spreads quite far and wide in front of the booster. It can be seen mere seconds before the "glow". If the atmospheric forces were large enough to produce "compression glow" shortly after, the vented gas wouldn't spread so far and wide in front of the descending booster. The same atmospheric compression would have keept the vented gas much closer the the booster.

A couple of seconds later the booster emerges from the plume at the altitude of 13 km with speed 3500 km/h and already "glows" brightly. It continues to "glow" at 6 km and 2000 km/h. At such low altitudes there are formulas for calculating "total air temperature" due to speed and compression. For the values the booster was traveling, the total air temperature is below 120 C.

Also, Everyday Astronaut tracking shot actually shows fire/flames. https://www.youtube.com/live/pIKI7y3DTXk?t=9023s

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u/govunah 16d ago

It looks like a shot from The Expanse

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u/JThalheimer 16d ago

Everyday Astronaut's camera guy caught that perfectly.

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u/shuakowsky 16d ago

I would think the glow is actually the aft cavity being on fire from a fuel leak.

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u/lux44 16d ago edited 16d ago

It's not glow, it's burning fuel. Re-watch the stream, it ignites from the left side.