On Mon, 1 Jul 2002 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> What most people don't know is the DC-X body design was derived from years of
> top secret research on re-entry vehicles, called Have Region, I believe.
Have Region was one of the SSTO-technology programs that preceded DC-X;
its designs weren't anything remarkable. However, yes, it's widely
thought that the shape of DC-X drew on previous McDD work on maneuvering
warheads.
Whether that is a sensible approach for a space transport is a different
question. In particular, the requirement for large crossrange -- which
drove the choice of nose-first reentry, and thus the shape -- is
questionable. It is often seen as primarily a military requirement,
permitting a once-around flight with landing at the launch site.
Base-first reentry, found in a lot of classical SSTO designs (and in the
General Dynamics proposal for the DC-X competition) is generally thought
easier; in particular, it has fewer problems with the center of mass being
in the wrong place. It does severely limit crossrange.
> It would be cool if ERPS could build a mini-RLV with four 50 pound engines in
> a DC-X like configuration. Does ERPS have the ability to make a fiber
> composite aeroshell?
Making fiber-composite shapes is pretty trivial, if you don't insist on
them being really lightweight. The hard part is getting them down to the
sort of weight you'd want for a high-performance rocket.
Henry Spencer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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