On Tue, 7 Jan 2003 15:39:18 -0500 (EST), Henry Spencer
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>It's actually fairly standard in VTVL SSTO designs to launch from a
>special stand, which supports the takeoff weight, so the gear only needs
>to handle landing weight. (If you do an abort, you have to dump/burn
>fuel before landing, like an aircraft.)
Yuck. The gear needs to handle at least some of the takeoff weight,
or your only abort option includes standing on a pillar of fire for
several minutes after a serious malfunction - not my idea of fun. If
you don't want to do that - and I don't blame you - then you have no
abort options, and you might as well leave off the gear and land in
Kistler's net or Carmack's pond. Also not my idea of fun.
I'm a big fan of being able to stand on your own gear at will. OTOH,
I've never done a mass estimate for landing gear.
-R
--
"You haven't been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3."
-- Paul Crickmore
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