SpaceShipOne-style feathered reentry vs. parachutes?

What are your thoughts on the benefits/drawback of using feathered
reentry (as used by SpaceShipOne) versus using ballistic capsules with
parachutes? How well would feathered reentry scale up to orbital
speeds? What benefits does feathered reentry offer over the more
traditional winged reentry that the space shuttle uses? In general,
what do you think the best solution is for orbital reentry?

From my admittedly naive perspective, it seems that feathered reentry
has sizeable drawback due to the increase in complexity and mass due to
the wings. However, the landings can be much more precise, and possibly
even more reliable. The ability of feathered systems to decrease drag
while remaining at higher altitudes seems pretty nice, although I don't
know enough about the aerodynamics to really know just how big of a
benefit this is.

It would be quite interesting if a SpaceShipOne-style reentry vehicle
could be launched by a more conventional booster (Falcon V?).
Does Rutan's company have any patents on feathered reentry?

-- Neil

"Neil Halelamien" wrote in message
...
What are your thoughts on the benefits/drawback of using feathered
reentry (as used by SpaceShipOne) versus using ballistic capsules with
parachutes? How well would feathered reentry scale up to orbital
speeds? What benefits does feathered reentry offer over the more
traditional winged reentry that the space shuttle uses? In general,
what do you think the best solution is for orbital reentry?

From my admittedly naive perspective, it seems that feathered reentry
has sizeable drawback due to the increase in complexity and mass due to
the wings. However, the landings can be much more precise, and possibly
even more reliable. The ability of feathered systems to decrease drag
while remaining at higher altitudes seems pretty nice, although I don't
know enough about the aerodynamics to really know just how big of a
benefit this is.

It would be quite interesting if a SpaceShipOne-style reentry vehicle
could be launched by a more conventional booster (Falcon V?).
Does Rutan's company have any patents on feathered reentry?

-- Neil

My own personal thought on this is that a feather style re-entry though
more
complex is it's the future. I think this because if we ever do start
'mining' space
or building orbital factories parachuting and recovering 'goods' will be a
lot more
difficult logisticly. Especially if you are dropping items down to earth
many times
per day. Though space ship one is definatly too small to carry on such a
task as
that it is I belive a step in the right direction. Also if you consider the
fact that once
a system is in place for these types of vehicals one could land, get
inspected, and
take off again a lot quicker than a drop pod could be.
--
Matthew Hagston
Hungates Creative Toys and Hobbies
........ http://www.hungates.com

"Neil Halelamien" wrote in message ...
What are your thoughts on the benefits/drawback of using feathered
reentry (as used by SpaceShipOne) versus using ballistic capsules with
parachutes? How well would feathered reentry scale up to orbital
speeds? What benefits does feathered reentry offer over the more
traditional winged reentry that the space shuttle uses? In general,
what do you think the best solution is for orbital reentry?

These are rather different things. Parachutes, as used up to now, are
for the later stages of descent. Inflatables have been proposed for
reentry itself, but only used on test vehicles (see
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/fregat_update_000216.html
and http://www.skyrocket.de/space/index_frame.htm?http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/irdt-1.htm
) . Under normal circumstances, capsules like Soyuz and Apollo 'fly'
aerodynamically through reentry. Ballistic reentry is a backup option.
Note that the X38 was planned to have winged re-entry but land under a
parafoil.

The SS1 feathered reentry makes attitude control simpler than
traditional winged reentry. Variable wings that change geometry
between reentry and final approach are not a new concept. Some
iterations of Spiral, for example, would have used this:
http://www.buran.ru/htm/molniya3.htm