jaffee wrote: >>>>> I don't want to diminish anything Rutan has done...I think it's awesome...but I doubt the feather rentry mode would work for an orbital craft. SS1 re-enters the atmosphere at Mach 3-4. An orbital craft does so at Mach 25! <<<<<
I have some doubts about that myself. As a big space buff (My main hobby is model rockets, including R/C Rocket boosted Gliders) I understood pretty easily how and why the "Feather" method worked for the vertical re-entry from just barely being in space. I don't get big warm fuzzies about it being able to work out that well from an orbital re-entry, with an almost (at first) parallel flight path, using that feather method in a "ballistic" re-entry. That is, for orbital re-entry purposes if has more in common with space capsules that arc deeper and deeper down into the atmosphere as they slow down than the space shuttle which has a lifting re-entry that holds it about as high up into the atmosphere as the velocity at the time allows it to (give or take some programmed roll banking for some "S" turns to maneuver it for the landing area ballpark, and bleed off energy). Anyway, if Rutan's feather method is not a suborbital one trick pony, and can work for orbital reentry too, I'd sure like to see some convincing info from an unbiased source. I know there's some artwork showing a Space Ship One type design in orbit, but that artwork and several dollars or so will buy you one cup of frappacino at Starbucks. - George Gassawa RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
