[AR] Re: SSTO
- From: Ed LeBouthillier <codemonky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2018 11:36:22 -0700
On Sat, 2018-02-10 at 09:38 -0800, John Schilling wrote:
The biggest obstacle I see remaining, is the ability to safely and
reliably recover an orbital stage without excessive TPS mass.
Do you think that something like in-orbit refueling of these stages
might mitigate the entry heat problem?
If you can do significant delta V deceleration on the way down, you
don't have to rely so heavily on TPS. I don't have any numbers to
indicate what is required, but just think if you're in orbit at ~8 km/s
and you can drop your entry velocity to 1.5 to 2 km/s before entering
the atmosphere. You're still moving at a good speed, but the thermal
issues will be greatly reduced.
Maybe propellant might be cheaper than TPS mass and refurbishing.
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