hasara@GN.ECN.PURDUE.EDU (Andrew J Hasara) (01/17/90)
Here are a few infrequently asked space questions. Don't ask me for amswers, I'm the one asking the questions. WHO is working on this SSX "thingy"? What is an "aerospike" engine? Who works on it? Where can I get info on it? Does anyone have an index to the NASA Technical Reports, Contractor Reports, etc. . ? Where do I get one? How up-to-date is it? Thanx in advance, A. Hasara aka. hasara@gn.ecn.purdue.edu
fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (01/17/90)
In article <9001162022.AA04346@gn.ecn.purdue.edu>, hasara@GN.ECN.PURDUE.EDU (Andrew J Hasara) writes: > > Here are a few infrequently asked space questions. Don't ask me for amswers, > I'm the one asking the questions. > > WHO is working on this SSX "thingy"? > > What is an "aerospike" engine? Who works on it? Where can I get info on it? The article you're referring to sounds very much like Gary Hudson's "Phoenix" project. Things had been pretty quiet about his progress of late, don't know how to contact him. ------------ "...Then anyone who leaves behind him a written manual, and likewise anyone who receives it, in the belief that such writing will be clear and certain, must be exceedingly simple-minded..." Plato, _Phaedrus_ 275d
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (01/19/90)
In article <9001162022.AA04346@gn.ecn.purdue.edu> hasara@GN.ECN.PURDUE.EDU (Andrew J Hasara) writes: >WHO is working on this SSX "thingy"? Max Hunter and some associates of his, and now, apparently, some SDI money. It's not exactly a group of giant corporations yet. Nobody is giving away glossy brochures. >What is an "aerospike" engine? Who works on it? Where can I get info on it? Conventional rocket engines have bell-shaped nozzles. Turn one of those inside out, so the combustion chamber is a ring around the top of a tapering spike. Turns out it still works: the gases coming out expand against the spike and give much the same effect as a nozzle. The spike is a structural and thermal nuisance, however. Chop it off short and blow some low-velocity gas (e.g. turbopump exhaust) into the center, and the effect is much as if the spike were still there. That's an "aerospike". The concept has had little bits of attention from a lot of people since the mid-60s; check the rocket-propulsion literature under "aerospike" and "plug nozzle". Again, nobody is giving away glossy brochures -- you'll have to go digging in a good library. -- 1972: Saturn V #15 flight-ready| Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology 1990: birds nesting in engines | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu