Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!spool2.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken!rml!jack From: jack@rml.UUCP (jack hagerty) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Horizontal shuttle take-off Message-ID: <236@rml.UUCP> Date: 11 Jan 91 01:22:55 GMT References: <1991Jan4.180640.2723@zoo.toronto.edu> <576@newave.UUCP> Reply-To: jack@rml.UUCP (jack hagerty) Organization: Robotic Midwives, Ltd. Lines: 34 In article <576@newave.UUCP> john@newave.mn.org (John A. Weeks III) writes: > >Since we are being silly anyway, how about taking a normal shuttle stack >with SRB's and setting it horizontal onto a winged dolly. The dolly would >have wheels that would allow the stack to roll down a runway. The dolly >would also need wings to provide lift and control surfaces to get the thing >pointed towards space. The dolly would be ejected as soon as the stack >was in flight pointed towards space. > >Kind of like the Me-163 on steriods. > >-john- > Ever see "When Worlds Collide" from the early '50s? One of the George Pal classics. He thought the way to help a big rocket "get going" was to launch it horizontally *down* into a valley (to pick up speed ya' see, kind of a Soap Box Derby approach to aerospace) then curving the track up sharply at the end. He came up with the exact same soultion for putting wheels on what is essentially a big round tank. In the climactic take off scene, you can see the dolly go flying off into the distance as the rocket leaves the track. ("Potential energy conversion losses? Don't bother me, it looks great on film!" :-) - Jack ============================================================================= ||Jack Hagerty, Robotic Midwives, Ltd. jack@rml.UUCP (smart mailers)|| ||Livermore, CA ...!uunet!lll-winken!rml!jack (dumb mailers)|| ||(415) 455-1143 jack%rml@lll-winken.llnl.gov (desperate mailers)|| ||-------------------------------------------------------------------------|| || Caution! Too many warnings may be hazardous to your credibility || =============================================================================