• Captain Aggravated
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    11 month ago

    When basically all of your “lift” is coming from thrust, sure it does. As if the space shuttle stack was a work of aerodynamic genius.

    • Lv_InSaNe_vL
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      11 month ago

      Like 30% of the shuttles launch thrust came from the main engines.

      • Captain Aggravated
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        11 month ago

        And it was vectored down through the floor at the center of mass somewhere in the big orange tank, which is why the shuttle always did a sick Tokyo drift off the pad.

    • @technowizard22@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Thrust from rocket engines(or jet engines) is not lift. The force they genarate is perpindicular to the focre genarated by lift. All of the lift being genarated in front of the CG would cause the rocket to pich over and crash back into the ground.

      • Captain Aggravated
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        11 month ago

        Aerodynamic lift has a lot to do with angle of attack. Source: I am a flight instructor.

          • Captain Aggravated
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            11 month ago

            The amount of lift made has a lot to do with the angle of attack, the angle between the relative wind and the mean chord of the wing. While the space shuttle is in gliding flight, it flew with a very nose high attitude in a reasonably steep descent, thus the angle of attack. Under rocket power on ascent, the relative wind would be coming pretty much nose on, so a very low angle of attack, thus very little lift.

            If the angle of attack goes negative, the wing will lift in the other direction, which is how planes can fly upside down.

            • @technowizard22@lemmy.world
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              11 month ago

              Yes but it would still generate lift - a force witch would not be aligned with the center of mass and while not massive would be enough to pitch over the rocket and destroy it. There is a reason the x37 flies in a payload faring.