Claudio Bruno

Magnetohydrodynamic Energy Bypass Performance Analysis for Hypersonic Vehicles

The global political structure has changed dramatically since the breakup of the former Soviet Union. World changes have caused the United States to reprioritize its national hypersonic needs. The U.S Government has looked at the needs of the future, and the hypersonic aerospace plane is one of the systems included in alternative force structures. One hypersonic aerospace plane concept would involve magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) technology (i.e., the AJAX hypersonic flight vehicle concept) originally proposed by Russian scientist Vladimir Fraishtadt. This paper reports on the current progress and findings of an air-breathing horizontal take-off and landing design concept using an MHD energy bypass injector ramjet engine being studied at MSE Technology Applications, Inc. (MSE), HyperTech Concepts, and several universities for NASA Langley Research Center (NASA-LaRC) under a Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) project. A Quasi onedimensional electromagnetic code with a new Scramjet model and other tools were used to examine total system performance. Detailed cruiser propulsion configurations and performance have been investigated and reported in this paper.

Earth–Moon System: Establishing a Solar System Presence

The Earth’s Moon is a natural satellite that has been suggested was created by a Mars-sized body that crashed into the Earth very early in the history of the Earth, about 4.5 billion years ago. The latest sky surveys give an age of our Solar System of about 4.7 billion years.

View to the Future and Exploration of Our Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31 or M31) is the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way, our galaxy. Both are residing within the neighborhood of the galactic cluster, which consists of an assembly of galaxies that are bound together by gravity.

Stellar and Interstellar Precursor Missions

Staggering as they may seem to us, interplanetary distances are puny compared to those to reach stars. Our Solar System is located about two-thirds of the way from the center of our Milky Way Galaxy to the rim, about 25,000 light-years from the galactic center on the inner edge of the Orion arm, see Fig. 8.1. Our Galaxy has a diameter of approximately 100,000 light-years and is roughly shaped as a luminous disk 12,000 light-years thick near its hub, decreasing to about 1000 light-years near its “arms.” nOpen image in new window n nFig. 8.1 nArtist’s view from astronomical measurements of our Galaxy and its arms (Courtesy Astronomy Trek)

Our Progress Appears to Be Impeded

Prior to the 1930s, flying in aircraft was costly and potentially dangerous. There were fewer passengers and less cargo than required for profitability without government subsidy.

Exploration of Our Solar System

Distances to places within our Solar System in Chap. 1 provided a yardstick to measure human ambition. The time for light, traveling at about 300,000 km/s, to cover the average distance Earth to Pluto is 5.45 h.

Commercial Near-Earth Space Launcher: Understanding System Integration

Before there can be any space exploration, there must first be an ability to reach low Earth orbit (LEO) from Earth’s surface.

Commercial Near-Earth Launcher: Propulsion Choices

As presented in Chap. 2, airbreathing propulsion advocates have been fighting a losing battle to change the space launcher paradigm from expendable rockets, that are launched for the first, last, and only time, to sustained-use launchers that are more like military airlift transports with long and frequent usage.

Earth Orbit on-Orbit Operations in Near-Earth

Although not in the frontline technical or popular press, a critical element in reaching space beyond Earth is establishing the space infrastructure around the planet Earth. The concept of this infrastructure as a train marshaling and switching yard is appropriate, a difference being the difficulty of access.

A Space Infrastructure Requires a Substantial Investment in Resources

Although not in the frontline technical or popular press, a critical element in reaching space beyond Earth is the establishment of a space infrastructure around the planet Earth. Concept of this infrastructure as a train marshalling and switching yard is appropriate. The rail control center serves as a center of operations for switching, long haul train assembly, transfer of goods, refueling and repair. Likewise the Orbital Stations serve as centers for switching payloads between carrier and the required orbit, long haul space exploration vehicle assembly, transfer of goods to human habitats and manufacturing facilities and return, refueling and repair coordination. This is no trivial activity, and it will take a commitment as dedicated as the Apollo program to achieve. In a step-by-step discussion we will document the resources necessary to supply resources to this space infrastructure as a function of the propulsion systems.