I swear the thrust vectoring algorithm was just plain showing off at the very end.
Just super cool to watch, looks like a render not real life;
Just super cool to watch, looks like a render not real life;
Raises a question: I suppose they fired 2/3 engines not because of a failure, but because 3 engines would produce too much thrust.
That does mean that in a high stakes situation (landing) you can't afford to lose an engine. I wonder if there's any margin there for lighting the third engine in case of engine failure.
Especially with the fact that Starship is eventually supposed to fly humans and doesn't have a limit on relights since the Raptors are electrically ignited, I would bet that the software will/does include the ability to light up extra engines in an emergency.
(Googling the question led me to an article about how Starship does not have a crew abort system, which seems like an unfortunate limitation. I suppose in theory maybe the landing is slow enough that if you know, say, a minute or in advance that something is wrong you could possibly just exit the vehicle out a door and parachute down. I'd guess that's easier said than done...)
One engine didn't have the grunt required(?) but SN8 might have been doomed due to fuel supplying both lit engines. Ho hum.
This was as much a test of the Raptor engines as it was the bellyflop and landing manoeuvre, perhaps more so. They've got data from literally hundreds of Merlin engines regarding failure modes etc. A long way to go with Raptor and many more explosions to be livestreamed!
edit: another comment mentions it may be 120 frames per second footage.