[AR] Re: starship pad flame trench?
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2023 17:48:02 -0400 (EDT)
On Sun, 23 Apr 2023, roxanna Mason wrote:
I agree but I reiterate, this was war and the nazi's cared little about
safety especially when they were losing that war.
Actually, the Germans were usually pretty solicitous about the health and
safety of their *soldiers* -- sometimes more so than the US. But a lot of
compromises get made in wartime, on all sides. (E.g., quite a few B-29
crews died because Boeing and the USAAF rushed the aircraft into service
with inadequate attention to engine cooling in takeoff conditions... and
with magnesium engine blocks, yet!) Which is why wartime equipment and
procedures often get retired, or seriously revised, quite suddenly once
peace breaks out.
I think a more likely explanation than the Germans being callous was the
general lack of understanding about how careful you have to be with strong
liquid oxidizers. Some LOX safety guides explicitly warn you that just
because you got away with something a few times, doesn't mean it's safe.
That's a recipe for trouble when trying something out in a big hurry...
(Hmm, I don't remember such a step being shown in the Operation Backfire
films -- I think I'd have noticed. Where is it in Dornberger's book? I
took a quick look but couldn't find it.)
BTW, here's a good video by Scott Manley about the Starship launch which
includes good shots of the crater dig by the engine blast. Pretty
impressive. https://youtu.be/w8q24QLXixo
Thanks for the URL! Manley does his usual good job. Interesting to see
him commenting on some of the plume oddities -- I remember thinking "there
sure are a lot of odd-looking things happening in that exhaust plume...".
Henry
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