I finally got around to joining AIAA, and while browsing around the site, I noticed that they have a free sample issues of each of the journals. In one of them is a paper about the ISAS VTVL demonstrator:
http://rosina.catchword.com/vl=50987007/cl=13/nw=1/fm=docpdf/rpsv/catchword/aiaa/00224650/v38n1/s10/p36 It answered a couple questions I had about the vehicle: Q: What is the attitude control? A: Nitrogen thrusters at the top of the vehicle. Q: What is up with the bright orange exhaust plume on a hydrogen engine? A: Engine throttling is by throttling the oxygen only, so at hover or descent it is running WAY rich. Ground support is billed as extremely streamlined for lox/hydrogen, but it still seems pretty shitty from a peroxide engine standpoint, with several hours of work necessary for a 20 second maximum flight. I have a half dozen or so AIAA books, but I am moving into a new house with a real library soon, so I am sorely tempted to pull a rare extravagant-rich-guy thing and say "send me EVERYTHING!!!". :-) John Carmack _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
