Venusian rocketry.

Can practical rocketry be done on the venusian surface, or is it basically
out of the question.
Might things like ejector ramjets be very efficient?

Ian Stirling wrote:

Can practical rocketry be done on the venusian surface, or is it basically
out of the question.

Well...all the problems you have with altitude compensation on Earth,
are even greater there. Drag, too, I'd suspect. On the other hand, the
dense air would allow rather small wings for a given lift, at lower
altitudes.

Gravity is less of an issue, as Venus gravity is about .82 of Earth.

And keeping cryogenic propellants stored under Venus tempratures and
presures would be a respectable challenge, too.

Might things like ejector ramjets be very efficient?

Where's the oxygen to burn fuel? 'Air breathing' engines do make that
assumption, but it's not true on all worlds.

--

You know what to remove, to reply....

In article ,
Joann Evans wrote:
Well...all the problems you have with altitude compensation on Earth,
are even greater there. Drag, too, I'd suspect. On the other hand, the
dense air would allow rather small wings for a given lift, at lower
altitudes.

Ditto rather small balloons. The obvious way to do an ascent from Venus
is to start with a balloon ascent into thinner air.

Might things like ejector ramjets be very efficient?

Where's the oxygen to burn fuel? 'Air breathing' engines do make that
assumption, but it's not true on all worlds.

There are fuels which will burn in CO2.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |

Henry Spencer wrote:

In article , Joann Evans
wrote:

Where's the oxygen to burn fuel? 'Air breathing' engines do make that
assumption, but it's not true on all worlds.

There are fuels which will burn in CO2.

Now changing worlds, from Venus to Mars. Using such fuels would be feasible?
From all plans to colonize Mars, I've never heard about using engines that
uses CO2 directly.



--
Marco Aurélio Graciotto Silva
LABES/SCE/ICMC/USP

Joann Evans wrote in message ...

Might things like ejector ramjets be very efficient?

Where's the oxygen to burn fuel? 'Air breathing' engines do make that
assumption, but it's not true on all worlds.

Perhaps instead of true air-breathing ejector ramjets, air-augmented
rockets might perform well.

Mike Miller, Materials Engineer

Ian Stirling writes:

Joann Evans wrote:
Ian Stirling wrote:

Can practical rocketry be done on the venusian surface, or is it basically
out of the question.
snip
Might things like ejector ramjets be very efficient?

Where's the oxygen to burn fuel? 'Air breathing' engines do make that
assumption, but it's not true on all worlds.

I thought an ejector ramjet was basically a rocket engine with a shroud
to enhance entraining air.

It basically is.


Or is that something else.

Well, unless the rocket is burning "fuel rich" enough that its plume burns
in the incoming air, one normally calls it an "air-augmented rocket" rather
than an "ejector ramjet"...


-- Gordon D. Pusch

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