Surface to Space Transport Shuttle
Project Canceled As of this moment RSEV is dead until further notice dew to lack of support, resources, activity and interest. I may eventually restart RSEV if there is sufficient support to do so.

In case any one is wondering, the engines are mounted above the wings near the trailing edge to protect the intake from the forces of reentry, using the wings as a shield so to speak. We have not conducted and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) -*test*-('")ing yet so we do not yet know if this will work or not. There is still much work to be done to refine the design. At this time we do not have any one on the team who can do CFD -*test*-('")ing for us yet.

Good to see ya, Ben. Mystery, what do you think of the specs on this? Looks good, and feasible.... :badger:

Fair Sized
Looks like a fair sized craft. Re-entry looks like only real issue although sounds like it's being looked at.Part of problem with NASA Shuttle was employing aluminum to keep the skin light and then covering that with re-entry thermo-bricks.Would have been better in my opinion to have employed stainless steel skin on all leading edges,(despite weight concerns) with rhodium coating and titanium/steel backing.May weigh more but could take a lot more heat.Heat tiles have more than proved their ineffectivity since the Columbia Destruction, see; forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=340&start=10>Tribute . Like to hear more about plans in that area..How about engines that could fold into back fuselage during re-entry and then redeploy after fully in atmosphere, my thinking is to reduce leading edges that need to withstand highest temps during re-entry.Also some kind of heat sinks or thermal radiation conversion units to redistribute heat as it rises in the leading edges.(Note Rhodium may need replated after each flight, not cheap.) Welcome back Ben, Mystery

I have been considering Titanium for the skin and structure dew to high temp issues. High temp composite materials is also a consideration.

All measurements by default are in pounds. Metric conversions are for publications only. There might be some errors in the conversion program I am using. Instead of heat shield tiles as used in the space shuttle, I am thinking of making the underside heat shield panels as large as possible. Perhaps in 5 pieces, main body, left wing, wight wing, left canard, right canard. This way would simplify panel replacement upon return and thus reducing maintenance costs. The issue with retractable engines in this case is the size of the engines in relation to the craft. The SSTS is about half as long as a Boeing 727 and a slightly shorter wingspan.

Alloys
Yes, a Titanium alloy is a fairly good starting point choice for the skin. Of course computer modeling of re-entry will be needed to determine Mass/Speed/Temperature/Expansion factors in order to eventually come up with thickness of skin as well as potential hot spots.Reason I mentioned retracting engines is because angle of re-entry to protect engines would possibly spread area of higher temps to a wider area of the wings.That might require heavier skin on wings as well. There was some experimentation years ago using cylinders making up the leading edges of wings of aircraft.These cylinders were placed in rotation thereby increasing lift of the wing due to the "Magnus Effect". As far as I know, no one has considered using such cylinders on the leading edges of spacecraft wings during re-entry but such rotation would perhaps distribute heat over the full surface area of the cylinders and so thereby reduce heat at any specific point on said surface. This would change many dynamics and would require extraordinary modeling. Additional lift as well might help reduce the size of the wings required on the craft, (less weight) and change re-entry speeds. These cylinders could be made to rotate at high speed using electric motors, and so would not require explosive fuels. Another factor considered would be these forward edge cylinders in rotation would create "some" gyroscopic forces, and that would need to be considered in course computations, although it may prove advantageous at maintaining an angle during early re-entry.When deeper in the atmosphere, aerodynamics would play a higher role. Just a concept to consider perhaps. I can even imagine a rotating sphere on the nose of the craft... :wink: Mystery

This is the second project of the RSEV Project which is currently on hold pending the completion of the R100 Spaceplane Development Project.

Well, I hope it clears the snag soon! :salute: