re: Picture of a space shuttle leaving Earth, taken by NASA

quote:

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All 3 axes determine the ascent profile but - again - the roll program is executed EXCLUSIVELY to allow gravity to feed the SSMEs.

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At best you are half right.


It wasn't to allow gravity to feed the mains.

Think that shite through, if you are as qualified and experienced as you keep going on about. What difference does gravity make as a primary driver of fluid flow on a vehicle that is experiencing 3 Gs along its thrust axis?

The roll may have had a component in factoring in the force vectors so that the pumps don't have to work incredibly hard to needlessly resist the force.

But to use words like gravity, exclusively, and to bypass the need for a fuel pump to describe this is just flat out wrong.

Speaking of....please why don't you educate us all as to why a turbo pump is some kind of completely separate thing from a fuel pump as opposed to just a type of fuel pump?

Edit: Nvm, I see someone else beat me to the punch.

Still pretty interested to see his response.