From: vince@offshore.ai (Vincent Cate)
Newsgroups: sci.space.tech
Subject: Reentry without ablation or cermanics?
NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.42.133.230

I have been playing with my simulator and generated some graphs to
look at the reentry problem.  The graphs show what speed a vehicle
would be at as it comes down through each altitude.  Each graph has 7
different vehicles for different drag areas.  The color shows about
how hot it would be at each altitude vs speed point.  See:

http://www.spacetethers.com/reentry.html

Anyway, it seems you need a fair amount of area at an L/D of 0.5 to do
a reentry where you stay below 1200 C.  It also seems you need to stay
below 1200 C to do an all metal design with no ablation or ceramics. 
For these graphs I did not use any heat-sink mass.

It would be nice if a design could be done without ablation or
ceramics.  Do people think a practical design with today's tech can be
done for something in the 10,000 Kg range?  If so, what does it look
like?

   -- Vince

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Vincent Cate                           Space Tether Enthusiast 
 vince@offshore.ai                      http://spacetethers.com/
 Anguilla, East Caribbean               http://offshore.ai/vince
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You have to take life as it happens, but you should try to make it
happen the way you want to take it.    - German Proverb