Actually it is a larger fraction than you would think. Because of Atmospheric Drag.
Joe WB9SBD Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com On 9/18/2013 12:59 PM, Bryce Salmi wrote:
It's to my understanding that the Rockoons didn't go to orbit, but did reach space with ballistic trajectories. The hard part with orbit is the pure speed needed. RIT had a programhttp://www.rit.edu/kgcoe/electrical/meteor/meteor/Home.htmlfor an orbital rockoon type project called METEOR a while back but it has since been ended. I believe the advantages of launching from 30+ km altitude are quickly outweighed by the added complexity of the system as a whole. In the end the rocket fuel for most orbital rockets needed to get to 37km altittude is a small fraction of the total fuel on board anyways.
my $0.02
Bryce KB1LQC
On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 10:30 AM, Joe nss@mwt.net wrote:
It's called a Rockoon, and has been done before, google it.
Thing is now days it's launch would have to be permitted by the government just as much as any other major rocket flight. or get out of the USA like into the gulf of mexico to do the launch.
Joe WB9SBD Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com On 9/18/2013 12:01 PM, Rob wrote:
I'm not a rocket scientist but I have an active imagination .....
Thinking of a recent XKCD .... to achieve orbit .... the hard part isn't the altitude it's the velocity ....
Would there be any advantage (cost effective) carrying a launch vehicle say to 37KM ... think Red Bull Stratos .... and firing the engines there???
So you're already 37KM up .... there's a lot less atmospheric drag ....
This would be like a drop from a plane ... but even higher ....
Thoughts???
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