3 ms·
> especially if you're racing through a 15 PSI gas that you can use in your chemical reaction without having to accelerate it onboard. Are there any wild desig
by fho 4y ago
> especially if you're racing through a 15 PSI gas that you can use in your chemical reaction without having to accelerate it onboard.
Are there any wild designs that actually use the air in an electric powered design? Cooling is obvious, but could I just convert the electric energy to heat (100% efficient) and run the air through a heated mesh, ramjet style? :-)
- fho 4y agoTo answer my own question: this is basically the concept behind nuclear ramjets (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto). "Going nuclear" solves the energy density problem here ... the same thing with LiIon batteries would just not work (equally well). Apparently, electric ramjets for spacecraft propulsion is an active field of research: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705817314534 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187770581...