ARCA Expendable Smallsat SSTO

[tater]

37 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

Is that even a rocket engine? Looks so weird.

Linear aerospikes are great. I'm pretty interested to see them fire this and post a vid.

 

[sh1pman]

1 minute ago, tater said:

Linear aerospikes are great.

What are they great at? Same efficiency over all altitudes sounds good, but SSTOs have really bad payload margins. And for multistage rockets each stage can have engine nozzles optimized for their operating altitudes. 

[tater]

7 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

What are they great at? Same efficiency over all altitudes sounds good, but SSTOs have really bad payload margins. And for multistage rockets each stage can have engine nozzles optimized for their operating altitudes. 

SSTOs could certainly have a place at some point. Payload margin is less important than cost, honestly.

There are plenty of multi stage vehicles that use their main engines as sustainers all the way into space that would benefit from an aerospike (all hydrolox main engine vehicles, for example).

I like to see people try lateral ideas, so as sketchy as I think ARCA is, I'd like to see them actually fly.

[DAL59]

 

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Looks very steampunk with all those bolts and the red highlights. All it needs now is polished brass and exposed plumbing.

[qzgy]

No firing? Am a bit disappointed. I wanted to see it actually fire.