- Hi, it's me Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut.
Check out this photograph.
Whoa.
No, you're not seeing SpaceX's attempt
to create a wormhole to another universe.
This image was captured by my friend
and fellow launch photographer, Trevor Mahlmann,
at SpaceX's most recent Falcon 9 rocket launch
that just took place at 1:50 a.m. local Eastern time,
on July 22nd, 2018.
The mission was to deliver the Telstar 19 Vantage
communications satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit,
which it did successfully.
At one minute into flight,
right around when the SpaceX announcer says
the vehicle's supersonic, we see this.
- [Announcer] Because it means from that moment on,
we're going through thinner and thinner atmosphere,
and less and less stress.
- Okay, so what is this?
Well if you're anything like me,
you may have thought that was the vapor cone
that we might see when a vehicle goes supersonic like this.
Or like this one.
Or this.
How about this one?
I love those, but no, it's not that.
Those vapor cones stay connected to the vehicle.
They move with it.
This, this is different.
Right after this phenomenon, we hear the callout
stating the vehicle's reached maximum aerodynamic pressure.
This is also known as Max Q and it's when the rocket
hits the peak of its aerodynamic stress.
So in other words, the rocket is going faster
and faster and faster,
which increases the pressure on the vehicle.
But a rocket is also getting higher and higher, higher,
so the atmosphere is thinner and thinner.
There's a point where those two things intersect,
where the vehicle is going fast, really fast,
but after a certain point, despite going faster,
the atmosphere gets so thin and eventually
almost nonexistent, which then, of course,
decreases the pressure on the rocket.
But it's also not that at all, it's not Max Q either.
Okay, what is this?
Well what you're actually seeing
is the rocket interacting with the different layers
of humidity and temperature in the atmosphere.
These condensation trails are caused by the temperature
of the rocket exhaust creating water vapor,
which then quickly freeze in the high altitude environment,
forming what are essentially frozen cloudish things.
We actually see this all the time
as rockets pass through different layers of the atmosphere,
and right when the conditions are just right,
ta da, condensation trails.
Rockets also leave a wake of low pressure,
which is where you see
these rings of condensation happening.
That's so incredibly cool.
And then, of course, we're basically seeing the light
from the rocket get scattered through the water
and ice molecules, and pretty much form rainbows.
Dang.
A rocket that farts rainbows.
What will Elon think of next?
Geez. (laughs)
Actually, one of SpaceX's upcoming rockets
will truly utilize what is essentially just farts.
Their Big Falcon Rocket will use liquid methane
and liquid oxygen in the Raptor engines that power it.
So then, surely,
we'll see rockets farting rainbows, I guess.
Oh, and one last thing,
condensation trails like this happen all the time.
We just don't always get the right conditions
to see it scatter like a rainbow.
But in the right circumstances,
even airliners can produce this phenomenon and it's amazing.
Ah, I love that!
If you need a rundown on what this launch was, what it did,
where it went, why, when, what, why, how,
I livestreamed along with it and explained
all the exciting things that went along with this mission.
You can also see my reaction
when I saw those amazing condensation trails start.
Check it out in this video here.
You can join me for upcoming missions.
I start streaming around T-minus 30 minutes or so.
Be sure you're following me on Twitter
so you get notifications when I'll be covering launches.
Also subscribe here on YouTube and hopefully I'll see you
at the next one where I can answer your questions,
and you can join the conversation live.
But even more important than that,
keep up with Trevor Mahlmann's amazing work on Twitter
@TrevorMahlmann, or Instagram @TMahlmann,
and help support him at Patreon.com/trevormahlmann.
While you're at it on Patreon, stop on over to my page
if you'd like to help support me to continue
producing content like this, launch livestreams,
longer form scripted videos,
and news articles on my website everydayastronaut.com.
You can also hang out in our exclusive Discord channel
and subreddit by becoming a Patreon.
Head on over to patreon.com/everydayastronaut.
Thanks, everybody, that's gonna do it for me.
I'm Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut,
bringing space down to Earth for everyday people.
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