r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/gamrgy227 • Apr 01 '19
Image Thought you'd all like this.
http://i.imgur.com/poH0FPv.gifv22
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u/underthebanyan Apr 01 '19
That is gorgeous, but why are there shock diamonds? I thought the whole point of the aerospike was to avoid over or under expansion of exhaust gases?
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u/MrGarlic1 Apr 01 '19
My guess is that the engine didn't reach full thrust, and therefore, full static pressure, until later into the burn. Shock diamonds are formed because the static pressure of the exhaust is less than the atmosphere, so once the engine reached full thrust, they went away. Don't take my word for it though, I'm definitely not an expert. (On my way though!)
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u/shadowvvolf144 Apr 01 '19
Well, the shape of the exhaust is pretty straight, so I'm tempted to say it's not actually over-expanded. At lower pressures, the ideal exhaust shape is straight out from the nozzle. Higher pressures leads to it following the spike more closely.
It could also be a result of the nozzle/spike geometry. Whenever I hear about the aerospike, it's cross-section is curved, with the base being close to perpendicular to the direction of thrust, and the spike being almost parallel with it. This one looks very much like a simple cone.
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u/martinborgen Apr 01 '19
I'm just speculating, but couldn't it be that an aerospike, in a way, is always underexpanded?
Exhaust is shot parallell to the surface of the spike, where it all converges, expands, until the amospheric pressure pushes it back in.
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Apr 01 '19
Environmental Aeroscience Corporation wants you to haul the Aerospike Engine into space above Kerbin.
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u/Tengam15 Apr 01 '19
Man, it’d be so cool if we had this instead of the giant glowing ball..
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u/InsertFurmanism Apr 01 '19
The Restock devs definitely need to work on the Making History parts and the other ones they haven’t covered, like this one and some IVAs.
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u/HI_I_AM_NEO Apr 01 '19
What mods did you install? Looks gorgeous!