Back in the 1960s, I worked out a steam rocket, based an H oxygen
cylinder almost full of water. The only thing I remember after all
this time was the estimate that it would reach 20,000 feet. (This
might be wrong, and no, I am not going to reconstruct the math.)
The design was an H cylinder in a launch cradle with a bunch of
propane heaters. The nozzle was to be blocked with a lead plug cooled
with a flow of water through copper tubing. The idea was to heat the
cylinder as hot as possible without excessively softening the metal,
Then turn off the cooling water and let the lead melt and blow out.
Whoosh!
It seemed kind of pointless at the time. Still does. But it would be
kind of amusing to see how the FAA would react.
Keith
