Linked Questions

34 votes
3 answers
7k views

Why do the exhaust flames from cryogenic stage engines appear to be separated from the nozzle?

Why do the exhaust flames from cryogenic stage engines appear to be separated from the nozzle?
Hash's user avatar
  • 18.1k
16 votes
2 answers
7k views

Are rocket exhaust flames ever opaque?

The flame exiting the space shuttle main engine is obviously transparent. But, you can't see objects through either the Saturn V booster flame or that of the space shuttle solid rocket boosters. Is it ...
Anthony X's user avatar
  • 17.4k
18 votes
2 answers
2k views

How did the kerosene-burning Black Arrow have transparent exhaust? (seems to just "hover" in photos)

Kerosene + LOX rockets have big, bright exhaust plumes, at least in the atmosphere; second stages are are a different matter: Why is the flame of the Falcon 9's 2nd stage (nearly) invisible? But ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 148k
9 votes
2 answers
4k views

Is it possible to create different colors in rocket exhaust?

Would it be feasible in any rocket engine (liquid or solid) intended for flight above the atmosphere to add one of the following elements: barium, lithium, sodium, copper, or calcium to create ...
Bob516's user avatar
  • 6,907
10 votes
1 answer
2k views

Merlin engine stoichiometry

As evidenced by the bright exhaust plume at launch, the billowing black smoke rolling out of the flame trench during static tests, the wispy grey effluent from the Merlin Vacuum engine, and the layer ...
Joel Neatrour's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
2k views

Pro/cons of burning propellant in stochiometric ratio?

Several questions and answers here speak of stochiometric ratio. I do understand it is convinient for efficiency (greater ISP). I also read somewhere (I am unable ro find again the reference, it was ...
Manu H's user avatar
  • 3,770
11 votes
1 answer
1k views

How do rocket propellant combinations rank in terms of "brightness"?

While a booster on the shuttle had a bit more than twice the thrust of the shuttles engines at take-off, I'd venture a guess that it produced on the order of a thousand time more visible light. In ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 148k
6 votes
1 answer
686 views

Which is the preferred mode of liquid rocket engine cutoff - fuel lean cutoff or fuel rich cutoff?

When a bi-propellant liquid rocket engine receives a command to shut down, will the fuel gets cut off first and then the oxidiser - a fuel lean cutoff? Will the oxidiser gets cut off first and then ...
karthikeyan's user avatar
  • 4,469
5 votes
2 answers
816 views

Why is rocket engine flame usually clear/transparent at the nozzle?

This is a followup to a question about why the Falcon 9 second stage flame was invisible when out of the atmosphere. See: Why is the flame of the Falcon 9's 2nd stage invisible?. That was well ...
HumanJHawkins's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
234 views

Can pyroxene and other silicon compounds be used as a theoretical spacecraft fuel?

I have been reading this patent, which led me to this paper. The first uses polysilane, which basically replaces the $\text{C}$ in a $\text{-R-C-R-}$ group, making an $\text{-R-Si-R-}$ group. I also ...
Sean's user avatar
  • 213
0 votes
2 answers
325 views

How does the camera make the exhaust of the Electron's RP-1/LOX exhaust transparent?

In this 20-Nov-2018 Tweet from Rocket Labs XXX Peter Beck there is an image of the nine Rutherford engines of an Electron rocket burning. What is unusual is that the exhaust is luminescent but at the ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 148k
3 votes
1 answer
408 views

What is the electromagnetic spectrum profile of rocket flame/exhaust?

...from common observation, I can easily conclude there is a lot of infrared (from burning, superheated fuel), ending somewhere near yellow of visible spectrum; there should be next to none of UV and ...
SF.'s user avatar
  • 54.9k
2 votes
1 answer
105 views

How is stage 2 propelling the spacecraft forward? [closed]

A decent response on how the burning process works but how does this glowy burner push the spacecraft
rick's user avatar
  • 29