Quote from: scienceguy on 02/06/2011 10:43 pmNo, actually I wanted boiloff of hydrogen in this case. I just figured there would be lots of people on this forum who knew about this.So it takes feet of aluminum, you say, to prevent N2 and O2 boiloff? Not sure why you think thick aluminum would help. Aluminum is a pretty lousy insulator. That's why they make radiators out of it. Thicker would just give you more mass to warm the H2 and make boiloff worse to start.
No, actually I wanted boiloff of hydrogen in this case. I just figured there would be lots of people on this forum who knew about this.So it takes feet of aluminum, you say, to prevent N2 and O2 boiloff?
Thanks Jorge.That got me wondering, would there be any need for a pitch maneuver if the rocket had some initial velocity at less than a 90-degree angle? In other words, could one select an initial velocity and angle that (with an engine burn) could place the vehicle in orbit following a gravity turn from the very start?
For rockets where the 2nd stage engine is housed inside the 1st stage prop tanks, how exactly does the engine leave the tank during staging? Is the prop tank blown up?
Quote from: Danderman on 05/12/2011 07:37 pmFor rockets where the 2nd stage engine is housed inside the 1st stage prop tanks, how exactly does the engine leave the tank during staging? Is the prop tank blown up?Do you know of a rocket where the second stage engine is immersed in the fuel of the first stage tanks before staging? Don't you mean inter-stage volume?
Quote from: LegendCJS on 05/12/2011 07:59 pmQuote from: Danderman on 05/12/2011 07:37 pmFor rockets where the 2nd stage engine is housed inside the 1st stage prop tanks, how exactly does the engine leave the tank during staging? Is the prop tank blown up?Do you know of a rocket where the second stage engine is immersed in the fuel of the first stage tanks before staging? Don't you mean inter-stage volume?Sorry, I forgot to add the word "nozzle" in there, so the nozzle is in the lower stage prop tank.Its quite common.
Quote from: Danderman on 05/13/2011 04:55 amQuote from: LegendCJS on 05/12/2011 07:59 pmQuote from: Danderman on 05/12/2011 07:37 pmFor rockets where the 2nd stage engine is housed inside the 1st stage prop tanks, how exactly does the engine leave the tank during staging? Is the prop tank blown up?Do you know of a rocket where the second stage engine is immersed in the fuel of the first stage tanks before staging? Don't you mean inter-stage volume?Sorry, I forgot to add the word "nozzle" in there, so the nozzle is in the lower stage prop tank.Its quite common.So the nozzle of the second stage forms part of the pressure structure of the first stage? I don't think I've ever seen such a design...
I believe it was one of the concepts tspace was looking at.