I believe it simply starts the initial shock wave away from the blunt nose cone. Since the angle of this shock wave is dependent on the Mach number, it would make sense that the length of this spike would increase with the max. Mach encountered. There is likely some tradeoff between 'actual' length and 'effective drag .vs. Mach #' that would limit the length to something reasonable. Or, perhaps its only there to reduce the max. drag in the transonic area (shock angle = 45 degrees) and has lessening effects above this. It probably has little or no effect subsonically.
Henry probably has a much better explanation ;-> Now, this won't help you a bit on reentry, unless you turn the seats around and return nose first. This also assumes that the spike is effective at reducing drag at Mach 20+ speeds, so that you can retract the spike and increase drag substantially. Dan In a message dated 8/12/02 9:52:53 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << So what does the sharp spike do exactly? I could speculate, but I would prefer a less speculative answer. >> _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
