Peter Plichta's one stage rocket disc

[Sith]

A revolutionary concept that would make a 10 000$ space voyage possible.

The Düsseldorf chemist and mathematician Dr Peter Plichta is the author of the book "God's Secret Formula” (Element Books) which has just been published in England and the United States. The book deals with the famous Euler formula for unit circle which connects the transcendental mathematical constants e, i and p with the numbers +1, -1 and 0. The astonishing thing, however, is that Dr Plichta can also use his concepts of cyclic mathematics to effect a revolution in space travel. He has already received several patents for the construction of a disc-shaped reusable spacecraft which will be fuelled by the diesel oils of silicon. The special feature of these homologue substances of carbon is that they do not only burn with oxygen, but also with nitrogen. Such a spacecraft can namely lie on the atmosphere, inhale its air and thus do without the standard oxidation tank.

In 1933 the chemist Alfred Stock published his book "Hydrides of Boron and Silicon" in the United States. During and following the First World War he worked at the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe, Germany and showed that silicon-hydrogen compounds could be synthesised. Because the element silicon is listed in the periodic table below the element carbon, this result was actually expected. Stock managed to reach a chain length of 4 silicon atoms, with the first two silanes being gaseous, the third and fourth liquid. All these silanes are very highly prone to self-ignition.

In 1970 Peter Plichta disproved the textbook theory that the higher silanes are unstable. One of his achievements was to create a mixture of silanes with the chain lengths 5 to 10 (Si5H12 to Si10H22). He also managed to separate the oil into the individual silanes by of means gas chromatic analysis. This showed the surprising result that silanes with a chain length of over 7 silicon atoms will no longer ignite spontaneously and can thus be used for commercial purposes.

Silicon has already made a significant contribution to our century as a means of rectifying alternating currents, and more importantly in the replacement of radio tubes by transistors; and, of course, no computer could function without memory chips made of silicon. Its importance can be seen in chemistry, too. Silicon oils, silicon-based plastics and newly developed ceramics, e.g. cerane, have finally arrived and they are here to stay.

It has been known since 1924 that nitrogen at a temperature of 1400 oC reacts with powder silicon to form silicon-nitride while emitting heat. This material can resist temperatures of up to 1900 oC, indicating a very high bonding strength in the molecule. In contrast to silicon, carbon atoms cannot burn for reasons of quantum mechanics, which means that rocket fuel such as kerosene, liquid hydrogen and hydrazine in an air-intaking engine can do nothing with the 80% nitrogen contained in the air but agitate it through the engine.

Multi-stage rockets function from the mathematical point of view according to principles of rocket ascent. At the first stage of the launch they have to lift their whole weight with the power of fuel combustion. Because they quickly lose weight because of the spent fuel, they then accelerate although the power of the thrust remains the same. The discarded stages are burned in the atmosphere, which can only be described as a ridiculous waste of money. The Space Shuttle was intended to make space travel less costly; but actually the opposite has happened. Just as the invention of the wheel made all human transport easier, a circular spacecraft will some day soon replace the linear design of current multi-stage rockets. We are all familiar with the elegance with which a disc or a Frisbee is borne by the air through which it flies.

Peter Plichta got the idea of constructing a disc in which jet-turbines attached to shafts would drive two ring-shaped blade rings rotating in opposite directions. This will cause the disc to be suspended by the air just like a helicopter. The craft can then be driven sideways by means of a drop-down rocket engine. When a speed of over 200 km/h has been reached, the turbines for the blade rings will be switched off and covered to enhance the aerodynamic features of the shape. The craft will now be borne by the up-draught of the air, just like an aircraft is. This will also mean that the critical power required for rocket ascent will not be necessary. When the spacecraft is orbiting the planet, the N2/O2 mixture of the air will first be fed in through a drop-down air intake when the craft is still at a low altitude of 30 km (1 % air pressure). This will be conducted to the rocket motor and the craft will thus accelerate to a speed of 5000-8000 km/hour. This is where a standard rocket jettisons its first stage, because by then about 75% of the fuel has already been used up.

The disc on the other hand will continue to accelerate to 20,000 km/h and will thus reach an altitude of approx. 50 km (1 per thousand of air pressure). The speed will increase as the air pressure drops, so that the process can be continued until an altitude of approx. 80 kilometres and 25,000 km/h can be maintained. In order to reach the required speed of 30,000 km/h and an altitude of around 300 km, only a single measure of oxidation agent will be needed at the end.

In the hot combustion chamber silanes decompose spontaneously into hydrogen and silicon radicals. The hydrogen is burned by the oxygen in the air and water formed. Because molecular nitrogen is very tightly bonded, it must be preheated and subject to catalytic dissociation. The extremely hot silicon radicals will provide additional support for this process, which will in turn lead to silicon nitride (Hf = -750 kJ) being formed. In order to burn superfluous nitrogen, larger amounts of Mg, Al or Si powder can be added to the silane oil.

When the spacecraft is returning from space the ceramic-protected underside of the disc will brake its speed to approximately 500 km/h and the covering will open again, while the blade rings will automatically begin to rotate. The jet turbines will then be started for the landing operation.















http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Plichta
http://www.plichta.de/

[gospacex]

Sounds like nonsense designed to fish $$$ from gullible investors.

Just one example of many:

> It has been known since 1924 that nitrogen at a temperature of 1400 oC reacts with powder silicon to form silicon-nitride while emitting heat. This material can resist temperatures of up to 1900 oC, indicating a very high bonding strength in the molecule.

Si3N4 does not form molecules. It forms ionic crystals. Melting point of such crystals says nothing about bonding strengths of "molecules". Not to mention that "bonding strength in the molecule" has nothing to say about how good or bad this particular reaction for the purposes of propulsion.

[mlorrey]

Sounds like nonsense designed to fish $$$ from gullible investors.

Just one example of many:

> It has been known since 1924 that nitrogen at a temperature of 1400 oC reacts with powder silicon to form silicon-nitride while emitting heat. This material can resist temperatures of up to 1900 oC, indicating a very high bonding strength in the molecule.

Si3N4 does not form molecules. It forms ionic crystals. Melting point of such crystals says nothing about bonding strengths of "molecules". Not to mention that "bonding strength in the molecule" has nothing to say about how good or bad this particular reaction for the purposes of propulsion.

Well I dont speak German, and German stopped being the language of science about 65 years or so ago... intentionally not publishing papers, websites, etc in English to me indicates an intent to obfuscate.

[Sith]

Well I dont speak German, and German stopped being the language of science about 65 years or so ago... intentionally not publishing papers, websites, etc in English to me indicates an intent to obfuscate.

Eugen Sänger is the father of the American two stage Space Shuttle,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_S%C3%A4nger
why shouldn't Plichta not be the inventor of the one stage breathable rocket?    

[mlorrey]

Well I dont speak German, and German stopped being the language of science about 65 years or so ago... intentionally not publishing papers, websites, etc in English to me indicates an intent to obfuscate.

Eugen Sänger is the father of the American two stage Space Shuttle,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_S%C3%A4nger
why shouldn't Plichta not be the inventor of the one stage breathable rocket?    

Its not a matter of "should", its a matter of WTF dont understand a thing hes saying. The big question is whether he's promoting a fuel choice or a nutty flyin saucer design that wont fly.

[Sith]

Well I dont speak German, and German stopped being the language of science about 65 years or so ago... intentionally not publishing papers, websites, etc in English to me indicates an intent to obfuscate.

Eugen Sänger is the father of the American two stage Space Shuttle,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_S%C3%A4nger
why shouldn't Plichta not be the inventor of the one stage breathable rocket?    

Its not a matter of "should", its a matter of WTF dont understand a thing hes saying. The big question is whether he's promoting a fuel choice or a nutty flyin saucer design that wont fly.

A silane based fuel - energy from the sand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silane

Plichta's patent!!!
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5996332.html

[Jim]

Plichta's patent!!!
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5996332.html

Having a patent doesn't mean the idea is viable.


Typical Sith post.  To paraphrase a passage from his username's franchise:
 "Never his mind on where we are. Hmm? What we are doing now. Hmph. internet schemes. Heh! PME Heh!"

[Sith]

Plichta's patent!!!
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5996332.html

Having a patent doesn't mean the idea is viable.


Typical Sith post.  To paraphrase a passage from his username's franchise:
 "Never his mind on where we are. Hmm? What we are doing now. Hmph. internet schemes. Heh! PME Heh!"

The lack of interest in this concept disturbs me, Jim.

[Jim]

The lack of interest in this concept disturbs me, Jim.

In another internet scheme that won't work?

[sandrot]

For what's worth, here's a patented antigravity device that might reduce the silicon footprint of that rocket-disc.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1111_051111_junk_patent.html

[GI-Thruster]

Patents are not intended in any way to validate a technology.  They are intended only to secure an intellectual property so it can form the basis of invention.  Qualifications for patentability concern not viable science, but the notion of "novelty" so existence of a patent, though appealing to investors; never forms the basis for evaluation of viability.

Meaning for all intents and purposes beyond making a buck, patents are extraneous and do not come to the issue.

There are boatloads of patent out there for completely impossible inventions.  Patents mean nothing.  When you find an interesting patent, the very first question you should ask yourself is "what is the science behind this?"  If the theory or lack thereof is in conflict with what we know to be the case in authentic science, you should immediately brush off your shoes and walk away.

This stuff above is not worth even a single post, just as I have explained to Sith more than once now.  You need to take me at my word, Sith.  This stuff is junk.

[Sith]

Ok, you all have a point.

Moderator, I request this thread to be closed. I've made a mistake to repost it again...  My apologize.

[Axel]

The flying saucer looks cool and is good for publicity. Those tv programs are entertaining but lack technical detail. His statement that silanes are 30% better than hydrazine doesn't sound very impressing, given that hydrazine isn't very widely used.

Being able to burn atmoshperic nitrogen and hydrogen may allow to fly higher and thereby get lower heat load. That may very well reduce heat load to 1/5th. But 1/5th of what? Flying mach 20 is hard. Heat load grows squared with speed. Mach 3 is already pretty hard. So a first guess would be mach 20 is (20/3)^2 / 5 = 9 times harder than mach 3. That is magnitudes beyond current technology.

And heat load is only a small part of the problem. I dare to say that building an air breathing engine that can operate from mach 0.5 to 20 is the big problem. Dr. Plichta should contact some of the researchers that have tried to build such engines for the last 40 years or so.