Henry:
My work suggests the lowest cost expendable solid is likely economically
competitive with a partially reusable liquid but not with fully reusable
ones:
So yes, those strap-on’s probably want to be fully reusable. And it turns
out “glide-back” (w/ wings & runway) is good to about Mach 3.5 which is
enough to get your SSTO to most high inclination orbits assuming multiple
strap-on’s.
Bill
On Thu, Nov 11, 2021 at 10:19 PM Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On Thu, 11 Nov 2021, William Claybaugh wrote:
Henry:
Or...your SSTO uses cheap solid strap-on's for Polar and other such
orbits....
I'd prefer to make them liquids, and preferably reusable -- good solids
aren't as cheap as they look, and moderate-performance liquids don't have
to be expensive -- but yes, it's a defensible idea. Provided, that is,
that the strap-ons are *only* for unusual cases; otherwise you're really
building a TSTO, and you will get a better design if you're honest with
yourself about that.
Henry