At 11:57 AM 11/30/2011, Lowell White wrote:
Please enlighten me if indeed there might be a way to get something up (and to stay up) more economically.
Well, a bit of physics here. To get from the Earth's surface to LEO requires 10 km/S of delta-V. Even if you could get a payload to orbital altitude by some hypothetical means, you would still need to add 7.5km/S delta-V to bring it up to orbital velocity. From 30km (typical high altitude balloon), the requirement would be somewhere in between 7.5 and 10 km/S, which still means a considerable amount of fuel required.
insertion? If the bird and booster weights were small enough, could a wx balloon lift them adequately?
I suspect the rocket would still be very heavy. 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
