On Thu, 01 Aug 2002 11:02:21 -0700, Pierce Nichols
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> It's not really possible to say a priori whether the staging event
>should be orbital or suborbital. That's a determination that must be made
>as part of the trajectory optimization, and it depends heavily on the
>desired trajectory and the specific designs of the proposed vehicles.
It is possible to say a priori whether the staging event should even
occur, though. SSTO offers so many operational advantages that if
it's possible, it should be done.
Payload capacity need not be high, either, to support an expendable
upper stage for a mission beyond LEO. The SSTO doesn't have to make
it to orbit before staging for the mission to work, and with the
delta-v requirement relaxed, the payload capacity goes way up.
Of course, LEO+ missions would only be an adjunct for an SSTO launch
services business. Given an operations model that has the boat coming
home every day, doing what is in effect a recovery from a contingency
abort remote landing would be something of a headache. (The marketing
guy, of course, will say, "We need to practice that anyway. Let's
make money at it.")
-R
--
"Sutton is the beginning of wisdom -
but only the beginning."
-- Jeff Greason
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