On 29 May 2003, Sean R. Lynch wrote:
> It seems to me that the generally accepted solution to this problem is
> parachutes - either some sort of ejection system for the crew or the
> whole crew cabin, or (probably preferably) for the whole vehicle.
The problem with a whole-vehicle parachute is that it's heavy -- several
percent of landed mass -- and an SSTO in particular doesn't have a lot of
mass to spare for it. Okay if it's your primary recovery method anyway,
but it's awfully costly as a backup.
> I wonder how much additional volume in the form of gasbags you'd have to
> add to the tanks to make the vehicle lighter than air?
There have been SSTO designs using lighter-than-air recovery, but they've
been big and have generally involved things like huge ballutes as part of
the reentry system (e.g. Bono's ROOST), so there was lots of volume there
already.
Alternatively, *deploying* a hot-air balloon instead of a parachute as
your primary recovery method is interesting.
Henry Spencer
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