Airbreathing Acceleration Toward Earth Orbit
As flight speed increases, aerodynamic drag rises more sharply than the availability of atmospheric oxygen. The ratio of oxygen mass flux to dynamic pressure cannot be improved by changing altitude. The maximum possible speed for airbreathing propulsion is limited by the ratio of air capture area to vehicle drag area, approximately Mach 6 at equal areas. Simulation of vehicle acceleration shows that the use of atmospheric oxygen offers a significant potential for minimizing onboard consumables at low speeds. These fundamental calculations indicate that a practical airbreathing launch vehicle would accelerate to near steady-state speed while consuming only onboard fuel, then transition to rocket propulsion. It is suggested that an aircraft carrying a rocket-propelled vehicle to approximately Mach 5 could be a realistic technical goal toward improving access to orbit.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 910206
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-CONF-230882; TRN: US200723%%549
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Presented at: 43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Cincinnati, OH, United States, Jul 08 - Jul 11, 2007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Combined Rocket and Airbreathing Propulsion Systems for Space-Launch Applications
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journal | September 1998 |
Propulsive Performance of Airbreathing Pulse Detonation Engines
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journal | November 2006 |
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