Hot-staging fails
With IFT-2 scheduled for Friday, we may see the first-ever attempt at #Starship hot-staging take place. Here is a quick animation I put together over the past few days showing what tracking cameras may be able to capture from a distance. pic.twitter.com/0mba2cKaho
— Ryan Hansen Space (@RyanHansenSpace) November 16, 2023
The purpose of that hot staging ring is to enable the seamless transition between stages during Starship’s ascent, allowing for the ignition of the upper stage engine while the Super Heavy booster is still firing. This technique, known as “hot staging,” is meant to reduce the time between stage separation and engine ignitions, potentially improving the efficiency and performance of the launch.
Starship was not originally designed with this in mind, so this is truly terra incognita for the company, representing the most perilous stage of the mission. Hot staging is set to commence two minutes and 41 seconds after launch. If the second flight test fails, it’ll probably be here.
