katt fact: rocket exhaust plumes make me swoon.

the diamond-bright hydrogen blue of the space shuttle main engines especially so.

At launch the exhaust from those engines is traveling at 3.6 kilometers per second. In vacuum, >4.4km/s.

Rocket engines are absurd.

You see this giant gout of flame? This is a test from refurbished engine parts from the F-1, the engine used in the Apollo program. This isn't the engine as a whole. No, this is JUST the gas generator, which burns propellant to drive a turbine to pump fuel. This is exhaust from the fuel pump. And it's terrifying.

Saturn V F-1 Engine Gas Generator Fires Up | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Video [1:10]

youtube.com/watch?v=5IdJuq9KaZ

Follow

@starkatt Absurd, sure, but I get why you like this! It looks like a fox tail. :-)

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Awoo Space

Awoo.space is a Mastodon instance where members can rely on a team of moderators to help resolve conflict, and limits federation with other instances using a specific access list to minimize abuse.

While mature content is allowed here, we strongly believe in being able to choose to engage with content on your own terms, so please make sure to put mature and potentially sensitive content behind the CW feature with enough description that people know what it's about.

Before signing up, please read our community guidelines. While it's a very broad swath of topics it covers, please do your best! We believe that as long as you're putting forth genuine effort to limit harm you might cause – even if you haven't read the document – you'll be okay!