Comment by llbbdd
16 hours ago
I wasn't clear, was the LOS just comms or a full loss of telemetry from the craft? Either way, terrifying.
16 hours ago
I wasn't clear, was the LOS just comms or a full loss of telemetry from the craft? Either way, terrifying.
Everything. No radio signals make it in or out of the capsule due to ionization from the heat and plasma of reentry.
I’ll note, since it is supremely interesting to me, that Starship is able to communicate with the ground during its whole reentry due to its sheer size and ability to connect with Starlink satellites. I assumed loss of signal due to reentry was a given for any spaceship!
Shuttle in its last days had antennas that protruded outside the plasma just enough for telemetry. Apollo and Artemis reentry are also direct entry from Lunar-Earth transfer orbit using ablative heat shields, so the plasma would be hotter and thicker than suborbital Starship shots with Shuttle style ceramic tiles.
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Would this capsule had been been able to communicate if it was integrated with starlink or is the size more important? I'd imagine if they could have achieved communication via Starlink they would have done it, but just curious.
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The space shuttle, too, was able to communicate. I imagine the smaller the craft the smaller the angle you can "speak" out of and, below a certain size, it just doesn't work.
Yes, I remember when they used the signal out the back through the plasma during reentry. It was astoundingly good!
It seems like they had limited telemetry for a short period before they did any audio