Category Archives: ESA

Even more on Skylon

Posted on Sat, 2010-10-30 by gravityloss

They stop airbreathing at 2 km/s. Let’s compare this to staging. Assuming an upper stage of the weight of Skylon at that point (230 t), what kind of a rocket would be required for that? With a hunch of 3000 … Continue reading →

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Why precool but not liquify – Skylon and SABRE

Posted on Fri, 2010-10-29 by gravityloss

Well, I thought maybe I could add some content. Everybody’s heard about the British Hotol follower Skylon and its airbreathing SABRE engines. What’s special about them? My understandin’s based on this excellent document from Reaction Engines explaining why the system … Continue reading →

Posted in airplane, Architecture, Design, Energy, engines, ESA, industry, Launchers, RLV:s, Suborbital, Transportation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Gravity Assist Competition

Posted on Wed, 2010-10-06 by gravityloss

Or The Space Game, by ESA. This is a nice javascript webpage where a probe is shot from Earth to Jupiter with gravity assists at Venus (twice), Earth and Mars. You try to achieve the lowest propulsive delta vee. You … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Astronomy, Depot, Design, Energy, ESA, Homebuilt, industry, Launchers, Lunar, Models, Motivation, Science Links, Spacecraft | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Humans Fast, Machines Slow

Posted on Thu, 2010-09-09 by gravityloss

Detach a small capsule with the humans that goes directly to the surface (with only days of life support) and leave the untended craft to do multi-pass aerobraking Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Colonization, Depot, engines, ESA, Global, industry, ISRU, JAXA, Lunar, Models, Motivation, NASA, RLV:s, Science Links, Spacecraft, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

British Rocketry Relics

Posted on Mon, 2010-05-03 by gravityloss

At the Science and Society picture library. Note the many small independently hinging peroxide/kerosene Gamma chambers, the large but cancelled Larch engine, the washing machine / musical box guidance computer with a rotary drum that has bumps, and many other … Continue reading →

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Jeff Greason

Posted on Thu, 2009-11-05 by gravityloss

The Man. On Space Review. [EDIT: About a month ago, but I only just read it.] This is just excellent. So many things I agree with, that go against the stupid myths of spaceflight and space policy. If you read … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Colonization, Depot, ESA, industry, JAXA, Motivation, NASA, RLV:s, Spacecraft | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Reality and Future

Posted on Tue, 2009-08-11 by gravityloss

Jeff Greason is a rational person who simply gets it. It is mind boggling how completely opposite from someone like Mike Griffin he is. See Jeff’s presentation with the Augustine Panel. Paraphrasing, “we could go to Mars with Ares V … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Demotivation, Depot, ESA, Global, industry, ISRU, Lunar, Motivation, NASA, RLV:s, Spacecraft | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Skylon

Posted on Tue, 2009-03-03 by gravityloss

Nice video explanation of the SABRE engine by Richard Varvill. In a sense, it boils down to the problem of changing the hot fast low pressure intake air flow to a cold slow high pressure flow. In the Sabre engine, … Continue reading →

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The Third Way for Space Journalism

Posted on Tue, 2008-11-25 by gravityloss

Note, this text was originally posted as a comment on Rob Coppinger’s Hyperbola blog at flight international. I hope there was more expansion in the “third way” for space journalism, at the moment it’s more like the big professional publications … Continue reading →

Posted in Demotivation, ESA, industry, Journalism, NASA, Navelgazing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sometimes

Posted on Sat, 2008-10-18 by gravityloss

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qK2bdrS7E8] …stuff like this makes me think it’d be cool to be an astronaut. But the 20 year waiting of on and off flight opportunities, constant staying away from your family, random accidents killing people, and the complete helplesness of … Continue reading →

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