It's great for regular aircraft fitted with some kind of hybrid
Air-breathing rocket to start then change to a scramjet mode at supersonic.
For regular rockets it could reduce the amount of oxygen to take up

"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
...
(Mike Miller) wrote:

(Derek Lyons) wrote :

(Parallax) wrote:
Would it be possible to have a hybrid rocket that used LOX to get
going then switched to ram air as an oxidizer?

Yes, but there's no practical use for such a beast.

Actually, it doesn't sound too much different from several suggested
(and implemented?) air-to-air missiles that launch on pure solid fuel
rocket motor, then switch to a solid-fueled ramjet. By using offboard
oxidizers (or reaction mass) range is apparently increased for
near-hypersonic AAMs.

That's fine for atmospheric vehicles flying more-or-less 'level'.
However, this scheme has the same faults as any other air breathing
scheme for orbital launches.

D.
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