Watch a rocket engine ignite in ultra-slow motion

Date:
Mon, 18 Sep 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Description:
Firefly's Reaver rocket engine can generate as much as 45,000 lbs of thrust. YouTube Ponder humanitys spacefaring future from the safety of your computer screen. The post Watch a rocket engine ignite in ultra-slow motion appeared first on Popular Science .

FULL STORY ====================================================================== Firefly's Reaver rocket engine can generate as much as 45,000 lbs of thrust. YouTube

Rocket ignitions are always impressive , but theyre not the easiest to look
at with the naked eye for pretty obvious reasonsyou cant be anywhere near their incinerating temperatures, and their brightness is generally blinding. Thanks to popular YouTubers high-speed video capabilities, however, curious minds can take a look at a recent test firing to see the complex, beautiful, and perhaps terrifying ignition in action.

The new footage comes courtesy of The Slow Mo Guys , a team of videographers specializing in well, you can connect the dots. The YouTubers were given a front row seat at a test ignition for one of Firefly Aerospace s Reaver engines, but unlike previous excursions, this project required quite a bit of preplanning. First off, The Slow Mo Guys only had one chance to nab the shot, since rockets traditionally use up huge amounts of fuel and resourcesa single SpaceX Falcon9 rocket, for example, uses tens of thousands of gallons of kerosene and liquid oxygen.

That single attempt also needed to be positioned, rigged, and timed to begin filming at enough of a distance that wouldnt injure anything, or anyone. According to Slow Mo Guy Gav Free, a special enclosure capable of
withstanding the intense heat and vibrations needed to house their
slow-motion camera, while also calibrating the equipment to handle the explosions brightness. In the end, Free and his companions settled on
exposing their film well over 40 percent darker than usual to account for the luminosity.

All that prep work definitely paid off, judging from the footage. At 2,000 frames-per-second (80 times slower than real time), viewers may be surprised to see an initial, bright green flame. This is produced as a rocket fuel mixture called triethylaluminium-triethylborane (TEA-TEB) combusts upon
coming into contact with oxygen and air. After the initial green burst comes the yellow and orange flamesbut with such a slow framerate, you can actually see those flames responding to the shockwaves generated by the engine thrust. According to Free, a rocket engine can generate upwards of 45,000 lbs of thrust in a vacuum at temperatures as high as 5,500 F.

The post Watch a rocket engine ignite in ultra-slow motion appeared first on Popular Science . Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.



======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.popsci.com/technology/rocket-test-slow-motion/


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)