On Tue, Feb 18, 2003 at 08:48:12AM -0800, Tony Fredericks wrote: > The problem I see with this technology is that it reduces drag. That's > your primary braking for spacecraft returning from orbit. You could end up > lithobraking. > > > >From: Jim Richardson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > >On Sat, Feb 15, 2003 at 08:28:15AM -0800, Randall Clague wrote: > >> On Sat, 15 Feb 2003 10:18:32 EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> > >> >6) save enough fuel to fire the engines at low thrust during reentry > >> >(Problems: mass) > >> > >> Michael has long promoted this idea, but I'm dubious. I might be less > >> dubious if I understood the mechanism better. Is this anything more > >> than a mechanical means of standing off the shock wave and air plasma? > >> > > > >On that note. Anyone remember the article a while back on using high > >power microwaves to generate plasma in front of a non-streamlined > >object, to reduce it's drag? The downside, was the weight and power > >requirements, (actually, not too bad) and the fact that you got the most > >benefit from a shape like a sphere, the more streamlined the shape was > >allready, the less benefit. However, that becomes an advantage here... > > > ><http://www.arc.umn.edu/publications/archives/v11n1/dragplasma.html> > ><http://www.princeton.edu/~milesgrp/girgis_aiaa_2002-0129.pdf> > > > >Something to consider anyway. > > > > > > > >
It allows a control of drag that other methods don't Perhaps it could be used to protect engines that protrude from a simply heat shield. It would (maybe) allow for more flexibility in the construction and design of the heat shield. -- Jim Richardson http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock A bad day, is when aliens attack, the dog bites you, and your boss tells you that the new client wants to make a few changes before delivery. Linux, super computers, office computers, or home computers, it works. _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
