Forum | Random thought: If we have a launch-abort rocket system, could we use it to aid in TLI rather than just discarding it in LEO?

You must be logged in to post login Login register Register

Search Forums:


searchicon 






topic

Random thought: If we have a launch-abort rocket system, could we use it to aid in TLI rather than just discarding it in LEO?

small tagNo Tags
UserPost

8:52 am
November 17, 2009


brmj

Rochester, New York, United States

Member

posts 136

offline
link
print
1

I think the title bassiclly speaks for itself.

Main work groups: Propulsion (booster), Spacecraft Engineering, Computer Systems, Navigation and Guidance (software)

10:04 am
November 17, 2009


Rocket-To-The-Moon

Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA

Member

posts 255

offline
link
print
2

On vacation through December 30, my participation will be lacking until after then. | Main Workgroups: Propulsion (Booster) & Spacecraft Engineering (Lander)

1:42 am
December 13, 2009


Snyder

Lakewood CO, USA

Member

posts 4

offline
link
print
3

I believe these abort rockets are jettisoned well before orbit. They are tremendously powerful, but short lived and not built for efficiency.

Once you are in orbit, you would rather have a small (light) engine with high efficiency. Cast off the steel solid brute when it is still low and slow (first stage seperation) but when you have enough speed to coast for a while if you shut the upper stage down early.

9:48 pm
December 13, 2009


Luke Maurits

Adelaide, Australia

Admin

posts 396

offline
link
print
4

Somehow I completely missed this thread when it was first posted!

Although I haven't voiced this opinion anywhere yet, I have been thinking for a while that we shouldn't bother with a launch-abort rocket system.  I know that our design philosophy explicitly says we are not about taking undue risks in the name of simplicity, but Mercury and Apollo both had these systems, and Gemini had an ejection seat system, and as far as I know they none of them were ever actually used for their intended purpose.  This suggests to me that (i) it is possible to make the launch platforms safe enough that these aren't strictly necessary and (ii) we can't really be all that certain that they would actually work, i.e. that there would be enough advance warning of a potential disaster to activate the launch abort rockets in time to save the crew.

Main workgroup: Navigation and Guidance. Side interests: Propulsion, Computer Systems, Communications. Skill set: Mathematics major, good knowledge of Newtonian physics, decent programming (Python, C, Java, PHP)

small tagNo Tags

About the CSTART forum

Most Users Ever Online:

28


Currently Online:

4 Guests

Forum Stats:

Groups: 4

Forums: 31

Topics: 184

Posts: 1009

Membership:

There are 42 Members

There has been 1 Guest

There are 2 Admins

There are 0 Moderators

Top Posters:

Rocket-To-The-Moon – 255

brmj – 136

rpulkrabek – 38

noumena – 29

johnnyping – 15

gerbal – 12

Administrators: Luke Maurits (396 Posts), Rizwan (61 Posts)




  • Share/Bookmark