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This would still use hydrogen, and liquid oxygen which are more difficult to handle than jet fuel. Having such fuels in close proximity to people could be pret
by 7952 8y ago
This would still use hydrogen, and liquid oxygen which are more difficult to handle than jet fuel. Having such fuels in close proximity to people could be pretty risky.
Also, it is not known what the take off or landing speed would be like. A hypersonic vehicle needs wings that are very swept back and would not generate a lot of lift at low altitude. That means higher speeds, longer runways, and more risk.
- dotancohen 8y agoIt is worth noting that H2 is not fundamental to the design. Just as the American space industry is transitioning from H2 to LCH4, so too could these 'rockets' use methane. Though methane has half the energy density per kg than hydrogen, it has seven times the energy density per unit of volume. That is a lot of tank structure than can be saved, not to mention a much nicer ballistic coefficient. I'm really hoping that now that we have two methane-powered rocket engines coming online in the near term (Raptor and BE4), that the designers of Sabre and other hypersonic technologies might look at methane a bit more seriously.
- 7952 8y agoI guess it depends if they can use LOX for cooling or not. It seems likely that an SSTO will need as much performance as possible which may only be possible with hydrogen.