🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <16879@sequent.UUCP> jjb@sequent.UUCP (Jeff Berkowitz) writes:
>I'd like to advance the idea of Rogallo or parawing vehicles for crew
>escape from low earth orbit...
>Could an escape vehicle consisting of a small solid fuel rocket (for
>deceleration burn) and collapsible wing be used in this situation?

There have been a number of proposals for crew escape from low orbit.
One almost inevitably ends up needing a heatshield of some sort, though,
after which a conventional parachute is usually preferred.  (The "almost"
is because I recall seeing one scheme using a rather unusual parachute
to do most of the declerating at very high altitude, high enough to keep
the heat loads down to what a conventional spacesuit could handle.)

There really doesn't seem to be a lot of advantage in using a wing for
this purpose.  The obvious ways of building a collapsible wing won't
stand up to reentry heat.
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