Very interesting! And kind of makes sense... While for a ground-launched rocket, it makes more sense to just add more fuel and some extra solids or something, an air-launched rocket is very mass-constrained, so it pushes you toward high Isp solutions.
Ok,
Crazy though here.
Why not add throwaway solid fueled scram jets? Placing the fuel behind the compression section should allow proper combustion while significantly boosting the delta-vee of the craft itself.
As these would be literally Throw-away scram jets, they themselves would only have to have enough material strength and heat resistance to run until shortly after they burn out and are staged. As the initial boost should take the Pegasus above the Mach number needed to ignite such an engine, this might be doable, if the added weight to thrust ratio would favor such a combo. (And yes, I have heard that there were early tests with solid fuels for scramjets that the airforce did, and with some success).
Jason
(And yes, I have heard that there were early tests with solid fuels for scramjets that the airforce did, and with some success).
Jason
[/quote]
The solid fuel was for boost to get it up to operational speed. The scramjet still operated on liquid fuel for sustaining the flight. It acted like a rocket until solid fuel burned out and then it acted like a scramjet. So what is the benefit?
(And yes, I have heard that there were early tests with solid fuels for scramjets that the airforce did, and with some success).
Jason
The solid fuel was for boost to get it up to operational speed. The scramjet still operated on liquid fuel for sustaining the flight. It acted like a rocket until solid fuel burned out and then it acted like a scramjet. So what is the benefit?
[/quote]
Ok,
THAT (The solid fuel part) was NOT a point that was made entirely clear in the article. Sorry about my misunderstanding.
Liquid fueled scram jets could still be useful as you'd attain a MUCH higher velocity for the fuel load, once they were lit, than you would with turbojets. That is essentially my point.
Jason
(And yes, I have heard that there were early tests with solid fuels for scramjets that the airforce did, and with some success).
Jason
The solid fuel was for boost to get it up to operational speed. The scramjet still operated on liquid fuel for sustaining the flight. It acted like a rocket until solid fuel burned out and then it acted like a scramjet. So what is the benefit?
[/quote]
Ok,
THAT (The solid fuel part) was NOT a point that was made entirely clear in the article. Sorry about my misunderstanding.
Liquid fueled scram jets could still be useful as you'd attain a MUCH higher velocity for the fuel load, once they were lit, than you would with turbojets. That is essentially my point.
Jason
This needs a separate thread for scramjet or whatever ideas.
This is about a specific, and interesting, proposal to put jet engines on Pegasus. I'd really like to see what happened to this specific idea.
And please solve close your quotes.