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Why Starting A Rocket Engine Is So Hard!

Everyday Astronaut · 2.3M views · 2023-03-09 · 1:00:26

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Overview

Tim Dodd's hour-long deep dive on how rocket engines start, from solid motors to liquid engines. It covers thermal conditioning, spin-up, ignition methods, starting in space, and a step-by-step RS-25 startup.

On Hacker News

HN recommends it as the best explanation of why engine start is hard and what can go wrong.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2023–2026

Topics

Space exploration & spaceflightMechanical & precision engineering
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rocket enginesignitionrs-25everyday astronautpropulsion

What people said

HarHarVeryFunny · 2026-05 · Recommendation

Starting/igniting a liquid fueled rocket engine is an inherently complex process - everything has to be sequenced just right to get engines chilled, turbo pumps up to speed, any gaseous fuel vented and harmlessly ignited before it build up, ignition of fuel, etc. Here's a 1hr video from the Everyday Astronaut explaining the process and everything that can go wrong. [VIDEO]

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magicalhippo · 2023-11 · Recommendation

Everyday Astronaut had a couple of (IMHO) great videos which goes into why rocket engines are hard[1] and the Starship many-engine approach[2] specifically. [1]: [VIDEO] [2]: [LINK]

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frederikvs · 2023-06 · Recommendation

I'd say it's pretty impressive. Building and igniting a rocket engine is hard. For more detail, I can recommend watching "Why starting a rocket engine is so hard" by Tim Dodd [0]. It's not "never been done before" impressive, they're a few years behind e.g. SpaceX's Raptor engine, which uses the same propellants, and is also reusable. But still, a new rocket engine is no small feat - the engine is probably the hardest part of a rocket. This is quite literally rocket science. [0] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Everyday Astronaut, played through YouTube.

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