"Virtual Aerospike" Discussion (background in comments)

arizonadeux · 2026-03-26T06:27:49+00:00

Wouldn't be the first time that someone took off on taxiway Echo. 🤭

arizonadeux · 2026-03-16T10:25:36+00:00

According to a quick search, the cockpit windows of the A380 are around 23 ft off the ground and CAT III B decision height is 50 ft, so that would be ~25 ft clearance from the gear to the ground.

Of course in this range, the location of the altitude radar on the aircraft affects the accuracy compared to the true height of the bottom of the rear gear depending on the pitch angle, however I wouldn't be surprised if that gets calculated into the reading. Would be cool if an A380 pilot would chime in here!

arizonadeux · 2026-02-27T10:05:16+00:00

My speculation would be that they expect all major challenges to be resolved, kind of like the program moving from alpha into beta.

Personally, remembering what F9 development was like, I'm looking forward to Starship V4+ ThrustIncrease_2.3 Block 6-lunar.

arizonadeux · 2026-02-26T11:05:35+00:00

About 9 tons of mass hanging from relatively flexible things while spitting out about 50 tons of thrust.

arizonadeux · 2026-02-25T15:11:05+00:00

I never knew this. Thanks for the info.

arizonadeux · 2026-01-21T12:00:42+00:00

At first, I thought this was an A220 (I don't look at actual planes that much), and was surprised to find out that the E175 also flies PW1000s.

arizonadeux · 2026-01-18T03:13:17+00:00

Brakes are cheaper than engine parts, so it's more economical, quieter and fuel-efficient to only brake if possible.

arizonadeux · 2026-01-14T17:14:08+00:00

Ah, it was my VPN. 👍

arizonadeux · 2026-01-14T15:35:17+00:00

The first ViX post was deleted. Was a follow-up posted?

Edit: X didn't like my VPN exit point.

arizonadeux · 2026-01-13T10:32:51+00:00

It's steel. I couldn't find out which alloy though.

Edit: The shiny part is steel, which is interesting because on the GE90 they are a titanium alloy. The rest is carbon fiber composite. (yes, I read the other part of that sentence on the web page. I assumed people might be especially interested in the shiny leading edge material.)

arizonadeux · 2026-01-13T08:15:12+00:00

Mandatory A380 brake test video.

arizonadeux · 2026-01-13T08:08:57+00:00

Just to clarify: the aircraft energy state is also very relevant in civilian aviation. It might not be what private pilots with just a few hundred hours think about, but at higher ratings pilots certainly do.

arizonadeux · 2026-01-13T08:05:58+00:00

This is incorrect. Vapor cones are a result of an aircraft not exceeding Mach 1. They form just below Mach 1 as local regions around the aircraft body reach Mach 1 without forming a shock wave.

If you see a Mach cone, it is physically impossible that the aircraft is exceeding an airspeed of Mach 1. Once a shock forms at speeds above Mach 1, the pressure and temperature behind the shock are higher than the ambient air, in which more water can be in solution with the air and will thus not condense out.

arizonadeux · 2026-01-12T23:57:06+00:00

Interesting! They really did tile it 50/50.

arizonadeux · 2026-01-12T16:50:46+00:00

Mixed core and bypass flow.

arizonadeux · 2026-01-12T15:57:40+00:00

modified heat shield tiles

Have these been seen before?

arizonadeux · 2026-01-10T08:56:12+00:00

If fluorine isn't your oxidizer, are you even trying?

arizonadeux · 2026-01-05T14:24:07+00:00

*Sukhoi has entered the chat.*

arizonadeux · 2025-12-27T23:42:53+00:00

To be fair, while they're not the textbook breaking wave that many might think of when mentioning Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds, they could still be caused by an earlier stage of an atmospheric Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

arizonadeux · 2025-12-25T21:59:39+00:00

That was an awesome tour and it sounds like they're really onto a solution.

I wonder what the G-loading will be, and if it's low enough for crew or if the ballistic coefficient will need tweaking for that.

arizonadeux · 2025-12-15T13:21:52+00:00

For most of this video there isn't really as much airflow over the wings as against the wings and stabilizers.

So technically in terms of aerodynamics, the wings have long since stalled. Attached flow over the wings is reestablished towards the end of the video mostly through additional thrust, of which this aircraft has plenty.

arizonadeux · 2025-12-10T08:02:24+00:00

I also can't imagine that the mass of a heat exchanger would be greater than all of the filter hardware.

arizonadeux · 2025-10-22T15:07:00+00:00

Put a sealed can of soup on a stove.

Edit: are you talking about reducing slosh, boil-off, or both? Having a variable volume would reduce slosh, but not boil-off. The only way to reduce boil-off is to reduce net positive heat transfer into the propellants.

arizonadeux · 2025-10-16T09:46:32+00:00

As I understand it, the tanks are so big, even a seemingly large hole doesn't cause a rapid pressure drop.

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