Webb flies Ariane 5: watch the launch live on 25 December

Re:Webb flies Ariane 5: watch the launch live on 25 December by HideousKojima on Friday December 24, 2021 @01:31PM (#29676274)

The parts of a ship that thrusters are directly attached to experience acceleration first, the other parts that are further out from the thrusters won't accelerate immediately and if the acceleration is too sudden or extreme could be damaged or break off entirely.

And to answer your question in the other response, many thrusters have a minimum thrust, and even that minimum may be too much for the parts when deployed.

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Re:Webb flies Ariane 5: watch the launch live on 25 December by martyvis on Friday December 24, 2021 @03:31PM (#29677444)

By definition, as long as thrusters are firing, you are accelerating.

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Re:Webb flies Ariane 5: watch the launch live on 25 December by chriswarbo on Friday December 24, 2021 @04:07PM (#29677733)

Acceleration is defined as the change in velocity, and velocity is defined as the change in position (w.r.t. some inertial reference frame). There will always be some bending when thrust is applied at one part of a body; nothing is perfectly rigid.

As an extreme example, imagine a stick one lightyear in length: if we ignite a rocket on one end, firing perpendicular to the stick's length, then the other end cannot start moving for at least a year.

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