🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <19862@mindlink.bc.ca> Bruce_Dunn@mindlink.bc.ca (Bruce Dunn) writes:
: The vehicle enters nose first.  The re-entry aerodynamics of the vehicle are
: derived from the very large body of data which is available on missile
: warhead re-entry aerodynamics.   The angle of attack of the vehicle is
: controlled to minimize thermal loading.  The vehicle has a 1200 to 1500
: nautical mile cross range.  Deacceleration is 1.1 g maximum during descent.
: On descent, the vehicle goes subsonic at 60,000 feet altitude, and the
: engines are then started and idled.  At 5000 to 10,000 feet altitude, the
: vehicle is rotated base down.

How do they guarantee they don't get upside-down-spraycan syndrome?

Not only are they going to have to pump hydrogen and oxygen from the
FAR ends of the tanks, but they have to make sure they don't get
bubbles in the line while rotating, and you can't do that if the tank
is less than half full without having inlets on the sides of the tank,
as well as top and bottom.  (Controlling slosh during rotation is no
picnic either.)  Anybody know how they plan to do it?  For instance,
with lots of smart inlet valves that know when to keep their mouths
shut?  Or maybe the engines are robust enough not to care about "burps"
when idling?

I suppose you could just pressurize above the triple points of H2 and O2,
and then you don't have to worry about it...  :-)

Larry Wall
lwall@netlabs.com