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X-37 Question
Why is the X-37 almost 60% fuel?
That should give it over 2 km/sec velocity change. All it should need is enough fuel to be able to stabilize its orbit and do a deorbit burn It seems capable of about 5 times the needed velocity change. |
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X-37 Question
In article ,
Dholmes wrote: Why is the X-37 almost 60% fuel? That should give it over 2 km/sec velocity change. Correct. Historically -- I'm not up to date on any recent changes -- this was for two reasons. First, it's meant as a prototype of a reusable spacecraft with serious maneuverability, for things like rendezvous missions or significant plane changes after orbit insertion. And second, one concept for an operational version envisioned launch by a suborbital lower stage, meaning that the spacecraft would have to do its own quite substantial insertion burn. -- MOST launched 1015 EDT 30 June, separated 1046, | Henry Spencer first ground-station pass 1651, all nominal! | |
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X-37 Question
In article ,
"Dholmes" wrote: Why is the X-37 almost 60% fuel? That should give it over 2 km/sec velocity change. All it should need is enough fuel to be able to stabilize its orbit and do a deorbit burn It seems capable of about 5 times the needed velocity change. Orbital velocity is almost 9 km/sec. So I don't quite follow your math. ,------------------------------------------------------------------. | Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: | | http://www.macwebdir.com | `------------------------------------------------------------------' |
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X-37 Question
"Dholmes" wrote in message ...
Why is the X-37 almost 60% fuel? That should give it over 2 km/sec velocity change. All it should need is enough fuel to be able to stabilize its orbit and do a deorbit burn It seems capable of about 5 times the needed velocity change. The X-37 is derived from the Space Maneuver Vehicle which was intended to carry reuseable reconnaissance payloads on short notice. The SMV was also supposed to use propulsive and aerodynamic maneuvering to change its orbit to provide shorter and unpredictable revisit times, rapid constellation replenishment, and various other nifty capabilities. -jake |
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