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Skylon

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I wonder why the exhaust greatly changed color/luminosity shortly before touchdown. Seems intended, an engine failure wouldnt have resulted in such a smooth landing. Maybe the injected extra fuel to cool the exhaust to reduce stress on the landing pad?

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I know Spadre has been kind of neglected since LabPadre, Everyday Astronaut and SpaceX joined the streaming game, but you can actualy see the launch and hear the sound in its full glory in their streams. Scrub back in time and watch that thing fly. Wooh wee.

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16 minutes ago, tater said:

And since Elon won't do it, the original:

 

And even a timelapse:

 

Although I'm pretty sure these were posted on here when they were taken about a week ago

Anyway back to HOLY CRAP FLYING WATER TOWER AAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

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51 minutes ago, Elthy said:

I wonder why the exhaust greatly changed color/luminosity shortly before touchdown. Seems intended, an engine failure wouldnt have resulted in such a smooth landing. Maybe the injected extra fuel to cool the exhaust to reduce stress on the landing pad?

If I had to guess, it's the dust getting sucked through the exhaust and glowing from heat

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3 hours ago, Elthy said:

I wonder why the exhaust greatly changed color/luminosity shortly before touchdown. Seems intended, an engine failure wouldnt have resulted in such a smooth landing. Maybe the injected extra fuel to cool the exhaust to reduce stress on the landing pad?

The folks over at r/spacex seem to have concluded that it's due to salt in the dust that's being thrown up ending up in the exhaust. The hot plasma heats up the salt until it undergoes pyrolysis, and then the free sodium burns with the oxygen in the air to produce that bright orange flame.

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That happened at 1AM for me, so I couldn’t watch it live...but I just watched the replay and now must mirror what everyone else has already said...

HOLY FLARP THAT WAS AWESOME! That camera got the best possible view...you could clearly see the engine gimbaling and the thrusters firing to keep the vehicle stable!

We salute you, Starhopper. Your service to the future of space exploration will not be forgotten ;.;

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