5 ms·

More info on why that's necessary here: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/17878/why-does-the-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-do-a-180-flip-for-reentry https://sp

• ohitsdom 3y ago
  This isn't what the commentators are referring to when they talk about "the flip". Rockets traditionally have some type of separation mechanism to separate stage 1 and stage 2. This is usually some type of pyro charge or an actual pneumatic pusher. SpaceX wants to avoid this complexity with Starship and instead "throw" off stage 2 (Starship) by doing a flip with the booster. I don't believe it's been done before for stage separation, but this is also how they deploy Starlink satellites. [0] Obviously, something went wrong in stage separation today so Booster+Starship just continually flipped. We don't know exactly what the true flip will look like. [0]: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1630394434847227909?lang=en https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1630394434847227909?lang...
  • cubefox 3y ago
    A flip for separation sounds like it would waste valuable thrust / fuel. Interesting that they think it's worth it.