Article View: sci.space.shuttle
Article #5964Re: Atlantis is home!
From: Horace Dediu
Date: Thu, 18 May 1989 14:32
Date: Thu, 18 May 1989 14:32
45 lines
2135 bytes
2135 bytes
In article <4453@ttidca.TTI.COM>, hollombe@ttidca.TTI.COM (The Polymath) writes:
> In article <9090001@hp-lsd.HP.COM> paulc@hp-lsd.HP.COM (Paul Carroll) writes:
>
> }By the way, can anyone inform me as to why there are 2 sonic
> }booms, and not just one, from the shuttle? ...
>
> One from the Shuttle, one from the chase plane.
>
No.
The booms come from two different shock waves generated by the shuttle. At
supersonic speeds the shuttle looks like:
. .
. .
. <- shock wave 1 . <- shock wave 2
. (in 3-space, these .
. are cones) --.
. / |
. / |
. / |
. _______________________/-----|__
. / USA : / |
/-- ---|
< \__|
-------------------------------------
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. yay! .
. o .
. -|- .
.BOOM / \ .BOOM
_____________________________________________________ (observer) on ground
(Not to scale). There are many shock waves, but these are the biggest. The
nose, and the bumps in the fuselage at the back which cover the engines
cause the two shock waves.
--
Horace Dediu GTE Laboratories
(671) 466-4111 40 Sylvan Road
UUCP: ...!harvard!bunny!hhd0 Waltham, MA 02254
Internet: hhd0@gte.com or hhd0%gte.com@relay.cs.net
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!husc6!bunny!hhd0 From: hhd0@GTE.COM (Horace Dediu) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Atlantis is home! Summary: 2 booms Message-ID: <6949@bunny.GTE.COM> Date: 18 May 89 14:32:43 GMT References: <272@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov> <9090001@hp-lsd.HP.COM> <4453@ttidca.TTI.COM> Organization: GTE Laboratories, Inc., Waltham, MA Lines: 45