Old Fire, New Fire: Why SLS and Starship Burn So Differently
A clear look at why SLS and Starship represent two very different rocket philosophies, from propellant choice to reuse.
35 posts
A clear look at why SLS and Starship represent two very different rocket philosophies, from propellant choice to reuse.
A defense of SpaceX’s messy progress, arguing that broken test flights can become part of the design’s strength.
Alcohol in space is more than a joke: it touches chemistry, culture, propulsion, and the rituals humans carry with them.
Starship Flight 11 becomes a bridge between today’s test campaign and the larger ambitions of the V3 architecture.
Starship Flight 10 shows how SpaceX turns dramatic failure modes into data for the next design iteration.
A small buoy in the Indian Ocean becomes an unexpected witness to Starship’s increasingly precise flight-test choreography.
Starship Flight 10 combines major milestones with one odd airlock moment that makes the test especially worth unpacking.
Honda’s rocket ambitions suggest that precision manufacturing may travel farther than anyone expected from the automotive world.
Resonance can create music, destruction, and unexpected engineering trouble when systems find the frequency they cannot ignore.
Starship 9’s awkward details make the test memorable, showing how small mechanisms can complicate giant ambitions.
Skipping a rehearsal can look reckless or efficient; Starship Flight 9 offers evidence for both interpretations.
Rotating detonation engines promise a propulsion leap by turning controlled explosions into continuous, efficient thrust.
The Hadamard code links deep-space imaging and clever cameras through a beautiful trick of mathematics.
Stephen Wolfram’s physics project is ambitious and provocative, raising questions about insight, authority, and scientific persuasion.
Modern heat shields are evolving quickly because coming home safely remains one of spaceflight’s hardest problems.
On the Moon, the choice between wheels and legs is really a question about terrain, energy, and mission style.
Mission names are more than labels; they carry mythology, politics, branding, and the emotional charge of exploration.
SpaceX launches attract devoted watchers because they combine spectacle, uncertainty, and the feeling of history being made live.
A combative look at why established industries react so strongly when Musk’s companies move faster than expected.
The FAA’s role in launches raises a hard question: when does safety oversight become a brake on space progress?
Rocket propellant does not sit still, and controlling its motion is essential to steering a vehicle safely.
The rocket countdown owes more to cinema than many realize, blending dramatic timing with real launch discipline.
Equatorial launches exploit Earth’s spin, but the perfect launch site involves more than latitude and elevation.
NASA’s old constraints and SpaceX’s new methods reveal how culture can shape the pace of rocket innovation.
Rapid unscheduled disassembly sounds comic, but it captures a long history of learning through violent hardware lessons.
Rocket countdowns and movie bombs share a dramatic grammar that turns waiting into unbearable suspense.
From model rockets to launch vehicles, rocket size is really a negotiation among mass, thrust, drag, and purpose.
Rocket launches look dramatic, but their environmental impact needs comparison, context, and careful accounting.
Flight termination systems are grim but essential, protecting people when rockets stop behaving like rockets should.
OpenRocket shows how accessible simulation tools can turn curiosity into real engineering intuition for future builders.
The gravity turn explains why rockets arc into orbit instead of simply climbing straight toward space.
Rocket launches are acoustic events as much as mechanical ones, and vibration can be a serious engineering enemy.
Choosing rocket engine size is a balancing act between thrust, reliability, plumbing, cost, and mission flexibility.
Starship’s first flight test failed loudly but still marked a consequential step in reusable heavy-lift development.
3D printing is changing rocket manufacturing by collapsing complexity, speeding iteration, and challenging old production assumptions.