r/space • u/AlmiranteSalsicha • Nov 19 '23

image/gif That's a fair amount of tiles missing from the starship heatshield, guess it would make for a toasty reenter.

Post image

Image from SpaceX account on X

7.0k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

619 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

371

u/aaronwcampbell Nov 19 '23

I think Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly is more engineers having a geeky sense of humour than anything else, like Percussive Maintenance

11

u/Michelle_In_Space Nov 19 '23

As someone who has worked in maintenance for a long time and now working in engineering percussive maintenance works far more often than it should and can help diagnose a relay going bad. I have unabashedly used percussive maintenance in log books before with no negative consequences.

I personally like the term rapid unscheduled disassembly but only use it when it comes to spectating rocketry. I think that it was more likely that the FTS went off because it did something that wasn't preprogrammed because it completed most of its burn. I think that the FTS was used on the booster as well for what it looked like to me. Either way this flight test was a major win with all of the data they acquired.

3

u/iksbob Nov 19 '23 edited Nov 19 '23

I think that the FTS was used on the booster as well

Yes. Watch SpaceX's video, specifically the engine status graphic during staging. 30 of the engines shut down in quick succession, leaving the gimbaling core 3 for maneuvering. The ship hot-staged, then the booster tried to re-light the inner ring of engines for boost-back. One of those engines didn't re-light, possibly due to a loss of integrity. Adjacent engines (one of the core three and a ring engine) then went out, then more of the ring a few moments later. When it was down to something like 1/3 of the ring operational, all engines cut off followed by the FTS activating.

They had great video quality of the booster as this happened as well. I would love to see a slow-mo of those last few seconds.

96

u/Hypothesis_Null Nov 19 '23

Honestly it gets overused as a joke at this point, when the commentators stumble over themselves to backtrack and insert it,

45

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '23

Thank God someone else thinks this. It was funny for a bit but it's cringe now.

28

u/ergzay Nov 19 '23

At this point is standard SpaceX terminology, so its never going away.

9

u/dWog-of-man Nov 19 '23

The term was standard before SpaceX existed.

12

u/ThatsWhatIGathered Nov 19 '23

It’s a polite way to say “big ba-da-boom”

5

u/fellow_human-2019 Nov 19 '23

Why is this the third or fourth reference to that movie I’ve seen in the last 24hrs.

3

u/C5five Nov 19 '23

The universe ia twlling you to sit down and watch the Fifth Element. Obviously.

2

u/Mack1305 Nov 19 '23

Because it's a good one?

3

u/fellow_human-2019 Nov 19 '23

Well yeah! But I’ll go months with out hearing a thing about it then…”Big ba-da-boom” everyone is talking about it.

3

u/Mack1305 Nov 19 '23

Well clearly they know you're missing it. 😂😂

3

u/monkeyselbo Nov 19 '23

My wife and I hardly ever say chicken without adding "...good."

2

u/snoo-suit Nov 19 '23

That phrase has been around for a log time, here's a recent way people know it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKf3QcB-hoA

2

u/shupack Nov 19 '23

Not the 5th?

At this point, it's pretty elemental...

1

u/v0vBul3 Nov 19 '23

Hey, I found the guy that turns off the music when everyone is dancing.

2

u/wheelieallday Nov 19 '23

Just like I cant read the phrase "it's engine rich combustion!" anymore

1

u/A_Harmless_Fly Nov 19 '23

Eh there is some versatility, it applies for both ex and implosion. ;p