2 ms·
That is a cool paper. "However, the paper space plane experiences severe aerodynamic heating in the order of 10^5 W/m^2 for several minutes." I can see how th
by WJW 1y ago
That is a cool paper.
"However, the paper space plane experiences severe aerodynamic heating in the order of 10^5 W/m^2 for several minutes."
I can see how that might be a problem for something made of paper. Interestingly, deformation from flying through a (thin) atmosphere at hypersonic speeds was not a large issue according to the paper.
- xattt 1y agoSpeed of sound is much lower at low pressure.
- WJW 1y agoSure but even at 32 km up it's still ~300 m/s, only about 15% less than the speed of sound at sea level. Let's say that by the time our hypothetical paper airplane start noticing drag the speed of sound is all the way down to 100 m/s. Hypersonic is mach 5+, so this implies speeds of at least 500 m/s. Most paper airplanes I ever built would not stand up to 500 m/s airspeeds, I can tell you.