I was talking with a friend yesterday about how to navigate the relationship between life and stress and he said, “sometimes it’s like we’re in Max-Q. I asked, “what is that?”
As Mark Aevermann explains, “When SpaceX blasts a Falcon Heavy into orbit, it does more than just break payload records. It tests the rocket’s ability to withstand maximum mechanical stress from the physical pressure of pushing against all that air in those first minutes. In aerospace, that maximum dynamic pressure is referred to as Max-Q. Shortly after takeoff, you might hear those in the rocket launch control center saying, ‘We’re approaching Max-Q.’”
Max-Q, in other words, is when the pressure on a rocket is at its highest. Once it passes the point of Max-Q the pressure abates. I also learned during Space Shuttle launches as it approached Max-Q they would throttle back the speed to about 65-72% of capacity to keep the stress on the Shuttle at a safe level.
Which made me consider that during times when we might be approaching Max-Q it’s important to pay attention to the stress we are feeling, and even throttle back our speed of engagement a bit, in order to keep the pressure of Max-Q at a safe level.
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