Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Rotary Rocket
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
=== Helicopter to orbit === Gary Hudson's and Bevin McKinney's initial concept was to merge a launch vehicle with a helicopter: spinning [[Helicopter rotor|rotor blades]], powered by [[tip jet]]s, would lift the vehicle in the earliest stage of launch. Once the air density thinned to the point that helicopter flight was impractical, the vehicle would continue its ascent on pure rocket power, with the rotor acting as a giant [[turbopump]].<ref name=wired /> Calculations showed that the helicopter blades modestly increased the effective [[specific impulse]] (''I''<sub>sp</sub>) by approximately 20β30 seconds, essentially only carrying the blades into orbit "for free". Thus, there was no overall gain from this method during ascent. However, the blades could be used to soft land the vehicle, so its landing system carried no additional cost.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} One problem found during research at Rotary was that once the vehicle left the atmosphere additional thrust would be necessary. Thus multiple engines would be needed at the base as well as at the rotor tips.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} This initial version of the Roton had been designed with the small communications satellite market in mind. However, this market crashed, signaled by the failure of [[Iridium Communications]]. Consequently, the Roton concept needed to be redesigned for heavier payloads.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)