Space Forum / Space Flight / August 2003

What are the best technical papers to read that deal with TSTO launch
vehicle studies?   I'd like to survey the best thinking that's been put
into the topic.
I'm also curious about simple hydrocarbon fuels like propane/methane and

I wonder if I could feed an off the shelf jet engine with fuel and
oxidizer at a fuel rich mixture ratio and later add the rest of the
oxidizer to the exhaust afterburner.
I think this might work like a cheap rocket engine. Like when you try

Suppose you joined Mars and Venus together with a big elastic band?

http://www.alltel.net/~estar/orbiter.html
Animated parachutes like the most recent gemini.
The Retrograde clock and timer.
Automatic calculation of retro time for three orbits.

I was wondering what special testing and such must be done before a rocket
is man-rated. Can any rocket be 'man-rated'? What does the term mean in
terms of quality assurance and such?
Thanks in advance.

   Just joined the group for the purposes of posting an idea.
I have been doing a little reading today about artificial gravity and
haven't seen magnetism mentioned at all. This may sound stupid but couldn't
the floor of a spacecraft be magnetized and the crew wear suits that would

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/20aug_supercriticalco2.htm
Harvesting Mars
NASA Science News
August 20, 2003

The inspiration for this idea comes from Armadillo's demonstration of
the feasibility of using a mixed monoprop. A mixture of hydrogen
peroxide + fuel + buffer (water) yields performance comparable to high
concentration peroxide alone and is relatively safe to handle.

Does Hubble perform observations while in direct sunlight (ie the
period of its orbit when it is not in the Earth's shadow.
If not, then a propulsion system like that of Orbital Recovery could
be used to change the Hubble orbit while Hubble was not being used (ie

Can anyone recommend a good textbook or reference on spacecraft
telemetry and commanding?  I've looked at the CCSDS handbooks but
found them a little terse and would like something that has more
general information on the "philosophy and practice" of spacecraft

Just wondering - in terms of a percentage - how much money is actually spent
on the science instruments on a space probe? I know the launcher accounts
for alot.
If it depends - lets use the mars probes as a example.

I am trying to understand some of the loss mechanisms in a modern
rocket engine.  
In a staged combustion cycle rocket engine, there are losses in the
turbine that drives the turbo pump/s. The friction losses in a turbine

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviation/article/0,12543,473272-1,00.html
Is pulse detonation applicable for rocket technology? Considering
"loud" isn't really that big an issue for a rocket. And considering
rockets carry their own fuel and oxidizer, it would seem that pulse

Does the amount of heat in the exhaust have any bearing on the isp and
amount of thrust the engine produces?
i.e. the heat produced by the SSME is only a few thousand degrees, and
the SSME is a low isp but high thrust engine, and the VASMIR is

Do you know a program to provide real-time look angles to planets?
Don