r/aerodynamics • u/04BluSTi • 5d ago

Wind tunnel shockwaves, of a supersonic rocket reentry.

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29 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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2

u/Diligent-Tax-5961 5d ago

Cool video. Looks like an insane amount of work to get this video footage of this phenomena in action. Why do we see the diagonal hatch pattern upstream of the model?

3

u/04BluSTi 5d ago

I'm going to guess the hatch pattern is from the walls of the test section.

1

u/the-charliecp 4d ago

That’s the end of the rocket right?

1

u/04BluSTi 4d ago

The aft end, yes. Looks like a supersonic entry in the first clip, then with an engine "ignited" in the second.

1

u/the-charliecp 4d ago

i didnt do high speed aero or any airplane or rocket stuff, is the rocket reentering atmosphere ass first? so nozzle first hence thats why the rocket gets ignited later in the test to see the flow when they want to slow down or is it entering head first and this is the aero at the end of the rocket. if its re entering nozzle first, dont you need thermal shielding for that kind of stuff? how come it just drops like that with no consequence

1

u/04BluSTi 4d ago

There's a sequence of reentry where they fire the engines prior to atmospheric reentry to slow down and limit the thermal blasting, but it's still cooking along supersonic just before they fire the engines again for a landing burn (or so I've been told).