SSTO propulsion overview

Catching up on some unread journals, I note that the March/April 2003
issue of JBIS has a very interesting paper: "A comparison of propulsion
concepts for SSTO reusable launchers", by Richard Varvill and Alan Bond.
While the authors have a mild case of hydrogen religion -- non-hydrogen
rockets are never mentioned -- and they obviously have their own axe to
grind, they generally give a good overview of the alternatives, including
why scramjets are such a lousy idea for space launch.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |