3 ms·
What’s 1:100 of Low Earth Orbit?
by smcnally 4y ago
What’s 1:100 of Low Earth Orbit?
- aceazzameen 4y agoI'm not sure. But 1:100 of the distance to Mars should definitely be beyond LEO!
- djaychela 4y agoA lot more than the 300 feet this can reach, alas! A 120-mile circular orbit would equate to around 6300 feet at 1:100 scale. I'd love to know if it will ever be possible to build tiny liquid-fueled rockets (with 3d-printing of the a model rocket engine being possible at some point).
- bvm 4y agoif hypergols are allowable then some existing RCS thrusters would fit on a model rocket. Or rocketlab's curie is pretty small IIRC. but...liquid propellents are either pretty dangerous (hydrazine et al), or impossible for an amateur to work with (cryo requirements, pressures required, complex starting sequence etc). The plumbing, extra parts, materials required, tolerances mean that what you might consider as a "classic" liquid design ends up being pretty heavy at a small scale, so you have to build a bigger engine to cope with the extra weight. So you would end up with an engine not really that analogous to what you would consider "classic" liquid designs (gas generators/tap-offs/staged combustions). However.... Frank Malina and Jack Parsons essentially did what you're proposing in the 1930s without any new fangled 3d printing technology, so it's possible! Just don't end up like Jack Parsons.
- TecoAndJix 4y agoWoah. I didn’t know who Jack Parsons was and wanted to know how to not end up like him - his wikipedia is a wild ride! What a guy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons
- bombcar 4y agoWow that paragraph went into a vertical climb and somehow kept going higher
- mr_toad 4y ago> I'd love to know if it will ever be possible to build tiny liquid-fueled rockets Robert Goddard’s first rockets were basically model rocket sized.