"Just Jeepin'" (macintux)
05/02/2020 at 16:45 • Filed to: Spacelopnik
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"Just Jeepin'" (macintux)
05/02/2020 at 16:45 • Filed to: Spacelopnik | 3
| 1 |
Sorry, Wankel, not yours.
The consensus from all 2 opinions I’ve seen on this so far is that it isn’t actually any real improvement, but Florida (Science) Man has an idea to reduce the weight of rockets and use less fuel.
The rotating detonations are continuous, Mach 5 explosions that rotate around the inside of a rocket engine, and the explosions are sustained by feeding hydrogen and oxygen propellant into the system at just the right amounts.
This system improves rocket-engine efficiency so that more power is generated while using less fuel than traditional rocket energies, thus lightening the rocket’s load and reducing its costs and emissions.
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Also by reading about this I discovered this way-cool, very nerdy newsletter on space news:
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One of the cooler recent research projects they mentioned is a way to place small telescopes outside the solar system and use the Sun as a lens to image planets around other stars !
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I mean, holy shit that’s awesome. We absolutely live in the future.
Roadkilled
> Just Jeepin'
05/02/2020 at 17:56 |
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There are things in the article that don’t make sense to me. Mach 1 is about 760 mph at sea level. Mach 5 would be 3700 mph. 4500 - 5600 would be Mach 6 - 7, so why call it “Mach 5"?
Existing rocket engines are very good a burning all the fuel. We have known how to mix the right amount of oxygen and hydrogen for a long time, so I don’t know why that is being claimed as a breakthrough. The only way you could improve efficiency would be to get the expanding combustion gasses to be expelled at a higher velocity. That appears to be the difference with this engine, but it isn’t clearly described.
I think I understand what is going on in the rocket, but the spacedaily article does an exceedingly poor job of describing it.