I may be mistaken but I think the Titan upper stage used the gas generator exhaust for roll axis control.
Well do SOMETHING with the gas generator exhaust. In this context its like free energy.
Very well.
I may be mistaken but I think the Titan upper stage used the gas generator exhaust for roll axis control.
+1 for the precision landing. But I'm still unconvinced. No second stage, no payload, and propellant tanks are probably completely drained by that 700-meters hop.
Also, the propellant tanks should still have a lot of capacity left - the engine does not consume that much fuel per second at full thrust and the DV of such a flight profile is the same for big and small rockets.
Hmm... But full tanks would mean more mass and probably more engines which means more consumption...
which would be the real next step, since vehicle performance is much different at supersonic speeds.
Unconvinced by what? You know about next version of Grasshopper that will start flying in 2014, riiight?+1 for the precision landing. But I'm still unconvinced. No second stage, no payload, and propellant tanks are probably completely drained by that 700-meters hop.
Unconvinced by what? You know about next version of Grasshopper that will start flying in 2014, riiight?
+1 for the precision landing. But I'm still unconvinced. No second stage, no payload, and propellant tanks are probably completely drained by that 700-meters hop.