StarWraith 3D Games Forum

A short video showing what atmospheric reentry looks like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6c3gTq6Zb4

I imagine the little flares are from particles being blown off the ship and burning up.

at those speeds some weird stuff happens past mach 5. Like the gas becoming plasma at the "hot" high pressure side and heat transfer being more radiation based......so the sparks may well be from the "cool side" of the spacecraft.