[AR] Re: SpaceX Single Stage to Orbit
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 26 May 2019 13:27:42 -0400 (EDT)
On Sun, 26 May 2019, Rand Simberg wrote:
Because the atmosphere has a lot of drag, and if you don't leave it, you
don't get to space.
As witness NASP, trying to airbreathe almost all the way to orbit, which
ended up -- even just on paper -- needing close to 14km/s of delta-V just
to reach LEO.
Not to mention little engineering challenges like a peak dynamic pressure
of 2700psf (supersonic at sea level is 2200), and a need to circulate
high-pressure LH2 through the skin for cooling.
At Mach 15, the atmosphere is not your friend.
Henry
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