Henry, See my response to Randalls' response.. On that VTVL discussion; I don't disagree with what you're saying, except that even for the Un-powered winged landing case, NASA has demonstrated enough successful Shuttle landings to the public that the public perception is that doing it that way is safe and reliable. So long as a wing hasn't burned off, of course.
Those of us into this space stuff have a pretty fair idea of the resources and training actually involved in all those successful Shuttle landings, but it now does look easy to the public. Until rocket-powered Vertical landings from orbit are similarly successfully demonstrated about a hundred times in a row, they will appear to be the violent and timing critical maneuver that they are. Or will be.. Ken ----- Original Message ----- From: "Henry Spencer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ERPS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 8:19 PM Subject: Re: [ERPS] Interesting analysis of X-Prize competitors launch modes > (Randall has responded very nicely to most of Ken's points before I got > to it, but I'll comment on this one...) > > On Tue, 27 May 2003, Ken Doyle wrote: > > I'm partial to VTVL designs as well... > > Not everyone is comfortable with a landing method that happens so quickly > > and is so critical that the only competent pilot will be a computer. Some > > people had concerns with Rotary's hypersonic helicopter landing method. > > What people generally do have experience and trust in are winged landings on > > runways. > > You left out a word in that last sentence: "powered". > > I too would have a lot more confidence in a *powered* winged landing on > a runway. > > When it's a glide landing... especially if it's a vehicle with a high wing > loading and a lousy L/D... I am a whole lot less sure which I prefer. The > apparent familiarity and trustworthiness of the winged landing is largely > illusory in this case, in my opinion. Investigation of the past art for > power-off landings in vehicles like *that* -- e.g., the Starfighter -- > tends to reveal words which add up to "unless everything is just right and > you're the next Chuck Yeager, point the falling missile somewhere harmless > and eject". > > If I'm required to place absolute trust in something, with only one chance > to get it right and slim margins against disaster, I would much rather > trust engineering than the atmosphere. > > Henry Spencer > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > _______________________________________________ > ERPS-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list > _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
