/sci/ - Science & Math

>>11078402
I know, but I ran some numbers using a made up "pessimistic" ablator (I don't really have enough data to model a real one without testing for some numbers myself) such that at the end of the burn the nozzle area expansion ratio becomes 1 (and thus the engine "breaks"). The performance isn't hit that badly. In fact, the thrust increases substantially during the course of the ~5 second burn, which I attribute to the throat getting larger and thus allowing for a higher mass flow rate.