3 ms·

I would imagine if the rocket weren't traveling so fast, they could put wings on it and glide the thing back. That would save a lot of the 30% extra fuel if th

I would imagine if the rocket weren't traveling so fast, they could put wings on it and glide the thing back. That would save a lot of the 30% extra fuel if the weight penalty wasn't that significant. Adding more fuel definitely seems easier.

lotsofmangos 12y ago
Long furled blades is another way to go, then you can have a heliroc. They work pretty nice as toys.
- Crito 12y ago
  Heh, that would certainly put a positive twist on their spinning problem too. ;)
  - lotsofmangos 12y ago
    While it works nicely for recovering balsa and cardboard from a thousand feet or so, I have a sneaking suspicion that it might not scale all that well.
- ansible 12y ago
  That sounds like the Roton by Rotary Rocket: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_Rocket http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_Rocket
lutorm 12y ago
The trouble is that wings also cost a lot of drag on ascent...