scatsob
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2013
- Messages
- 70
- Reaction score
- 3
My expertise is in aircraft but I am pretty sure the same principles apply to rocket aerodynamics. When a wing, or fin, moves into the supersonic regime the center of pressure moves from the 1/4 chord to the 1/2 chord. In aircraft this leads to a phenomena called "mach tuck" where there is a sudden nose down pitching moment and you have to have enough trim authority to account for it. So in rockets this would actually lead to more stability as the center of pressure of the fins would move aft. So what happens to the Cp of the rest of the rocket to move the Cp forward?