RESEARCH IN ROCKET AND JET PROPULSION*

DR. HSUE-SHEN TSIEN

Robert H. Goddard Professor, California Institute of Technology

HEN considering the prob.

W lems of basic research in
rocket and jet propulsion, it
is profitable to keep in mind the sali·
180
_I
Tf;NSllf;
ent features of rocket. and jet-propul. 160
-r---- STF/f;NGT
HA
sion engineering. These are: short
14 0 ~
duration of operation of the power·
plant and extreme intensity of reaction
-.. 12 0
I~
in the motor. ';
That the duration of operation of
the powerplant is short stems from the
0

~
10 of- 1\
high specific consumption of the pro- o
YIE:LO

~ROPO~TION~l
STRE:NGTH A

•
\
pellant. On the other hand, the dry IIIIIJ LIMIT A
weight of the rocket engine is much II:
60-
0.250;,
1
TOTAl~
AT lOCO hSTF/AIN A
'\ .\ t:--......
Iii
lower than that of other engines of 0,"1% T6T~
r--.... ~ \\
.........
equal output. Therefore, the total in- IN r----... S.TRA A
stallation weight (the sum of dry o 0,15;% TOTAL STRAIN A
--... ~ ~~I\
AT 1000 h,s 'I
weight and propellant consumed) can
P7--
be lower than otherpowerplants if the
duration of operation is short. (See o
0
J
0.10% TOTAL STRAIN
IlT
J
I 000 1'5 I
A
..........
~~ ~ ";;:.::.-.:
MELTING
--t---=..d-
Ref. 1.) 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 IBoo 2000 2200 2 "00

Furthermore, the specific consump· TEMRERATURE 1°F}

tion of rocket engines at all speeds,
and of ramjet engines at supersonic
speeds, in terms of lb/hr/lbs thrust,
is essentially independent of flight
speed. Therefore, the propulsive work
done by the engine on the vehicle, per
lb of fuel or propellant consumed, will
be larger if the flight speed is larger.
For this reason, it is advantageous to
operate the rocket and the ramjet en-
gine at large thrust and thus accelerate
the vehicle to high speed.
The great kinetic energy of the ve-
hicle at the end of the "burning time"
of the powerplant is then utilized to
achieve range by coasting. This form
of dynamic trajectory is demonstrated
to be superior to steady flight with
long-drawn.out operation of the rocket
and ramjet. Accordingly, all applica-
tions of these powerplants will involve
intensive, but short-duration, opera-
tions of the engines.
The extreme intensity of reaction
in the motor means high operating
"Condensed from a paper. presented' during. the
combined annual conventions o~ the A~erlcan
Rocket, Society and the Amencan SO~lety of
Mechanical Enllineers, Dec. 1, 1949, 10 New
York.
STRENGTH VS, TEMPERATURE OF INCONEL X HEAT TREATED 4 hrs
AT 2100·F. 24 hrs AT 1550°F, AND 20 hrs AT 1:300°F
Figure 1
temperatures. To find materials which in fig. 1, where the stresses are plotted
can withstand high stresses at high against temperature. The lower curves
temperatures is the main material are design curves for creep, and the
problem in rocket and jet-propulsion upper curves are the ultimate stress,
engineering. However, the problem a stress which is practically inde·
here is different in one aspect from pendent of .the rate of strain.
the material problem in turbojet and For long operating ti~e. t~e ~lti.
gas.turbine design. This is the short mate stress is not a deSIgn cntenon,
operating time of the unit. For ex- as the rate of strain near this stress
pendable units, such as missiles, the is so large that'the limiting strain will
operating time is generally of the be reached long before the intend~d
order of minutes. Even for vehicles lifetime of the part, and the part Will
which are intended for repeated oper- then fail. If the part is designed tOI
ation, it still is likely that the opti- have a life of only a few •minutes,!tl
mum performance will be obtained by can be stressed six times hIgher. ThiS;
a design which requires replacing the is a tremendous possibility in des~gn i
high-temperature and highly stressed and occurs only in rocket- and Jet·;
parts after each operation. propulsion engineering. ;
By adopting this concept of. design. To . explore this advantage .leads,!
ing for minutes instead of designing however to complex problems m the'
for thousands of hours as in the case stress ;nd deflection analysis. The.
of gas turbines, the material will be high rate of strain means constantly'
stressed for ultimate strength and not changing dimensions of the ,Part, and,
for creep. This difference is illustrated its influence must be deternllned. The

A E ROD 1 GES,~l!~
 problem is not that of plasticity where L//////! ( ( ( ( / I ' a / ( ( / / ( ( / ! / / / / / / I / u « ( / ( ( / / ( t t ' l

the stress-strain relation is non-linear,

J
.
.~
Q
-~

-, /'
.
-"'-
d
~

-....
. . Q

(
this high heat flux, designers have
been forced to extrapolate the em-
nor that of elasticity, because now the -'1 '"\
TURS-ULENT CORE
)
pirical laws of heat transfer to a cool-
material flows. In other words, the ./ .../ ,J .../
..J
ing liquid and to seek other uncon·
-
V -'
material must be considered as a ---'
ventional methods, such as surface·
visco-elastic medium. ---"--'---'--- ---
boiling heat transfer.
As a first approximation, the· stress-
strain relation can be still considered Heat Transfer
as linear. To be specific, let ux, U'y,
To absorb the high heat flux by cir·
U., Txy, Tyz, Tzx be the six stress com-
culating a cooling liquid in a duct
ponents, ex, €yo Ez, Yxyo Yyz, yzx be the surrounding the hot chamber, one
six strain components. The stress- (II nJR8Ul.ENT CORE must use large diffllrences between the
strain relation for isotropic, visco-elas-
tic media can be written as *,';; 13 94 +5.t\ I09~ot~/YII wall temperature of the cooling liquid
under turbulent-flow conditions. Here
pUx = cp(Ae +
2ft€x) 121 aUFFER LAYE-R ANO l.AMINAR LAYER --:-~~
the problem is the lack of proper
pUy = cp(ye +
2ft€y)
T dU - ell", (iV' 'itU')
-:l.II--u·\I'+_ T' - + -
"v understanding of the basic mechan-
pUz =
cp(Ae +
2ftE z )
p dy dT

Figure 2
8_

ism. At present, the designer relies

PTXY = CPftyXY, PTyZ = CPftyyZ, PT"X - on empirical rules which are only safe
1>ftyzx where A and ft are constants and to use within the range· of variables
e = + Ex Ey -1- E••
the rocket motor and in the combus.
tion chambers of ramjets and pulse-
of the test result.
To extrapolate without the guidance
The operators p and 1> are linear time jets, and the high velocity of gas flow,
operators defined as: of a sound understanding of the phe-
lead to· a very high rate of heat trans- nomena is satisfactory. Of course, the
am om-l
fer to the walls. For instance, at the problem of turbulent heat transfer has
p = --
opn
+a m_ 1 ---
otm-1
+ ... ao throat of a rocket nozzle, heat flux as been attacked successfully by O. Rey.
high as 6 Btu per sec per sq in has nolds, L. Prandt~ G. 1. Taylor, Th.
on on-l been observed. Changed into conven- von Karmen and others. But their
(f) = -- + bn _ 1 --- + ... bo tional units in other branches of engi- work is based upon the assumption
otn otn - 1 neering, this is more than 3 million that the temperature difference be·
The a's and b's define the property of Btu per hour 'per sq ft. To cope with tween the wall and the bulk of the
the material. They could be functions
of time, but not functions of the space
variables. Thus, a material with
changing properties, caused by the 1J.
drift toward thermodynamic and 1 J.
u T
chemical equilibrium, also can be rep- w: WALL TEMPERATURE
resented by these operators. '"'"
,S: T~' LIQUID TEMPERATURE
~ 0
T~ ASSUMED 150 F
Variable Stress "-
:J
00 STAINLESS - STEEL TUBE 0.587 inch 10
An analysis (Refs. 2 and 3) of the C[
mechanics of such materials reveals ....
r:r
"
that, if the load on the part is speci-
fied by a time factor g(t), then the
3.00
0 ..
. . lit- ~
.'iii
Co
,/
1/
stress distribution at any instant can 'a- r:-o. ~ 1/
be calculated !is if the material is ~ 00
2/ f ~ , /
vV i
a: ,.-,
purely elastic with the same instan.
taneous load. The deflection of the I
/ lr) L
/
::l
~
~'-

/1I/J' 'V
structure is, of course, different. But a.
it is specified by a time factor h(t)
V :z
...'"
which is independent of the particular t.O 0
..J
<[f-
value and distribution of the load and ,'1 L ~f-
is only dependent on g(t) and is de- 1// ..LV :E-
termined by / f <.)

/ I V
Qh(t) = pg(t)
Theh (t) is thus a "universal" func. 0.60 ~\
.. ,,~
// ••••• , ,., UNSTA81.E ,CONDITIONS

tion in the sense that it is related only 040

".,'"
,.'/
1'\
.i". ~
t~ g (t) and the properties of the mate- ... "11" '(, ~ I I III
nal. The other characteristics of the lL: ,,/' \'j VI'"' THEORETICAL LINES FOR
problem do not enter into its deter-
mination. In particular, the function
0.3 0

L' Q'
~
FORCEOCONVECTION
.
h(t) may be measured directly, ex- 1/ "";/
p~rimentany, on a pure tension bar 0.20 L
WIth the tension varied with time ac- l7
cording to g(t). This is then a can. L ...:.
siderable simplification of the me- V I
chanics of visco:elastic media and a
?seful tool .in the application of the 0.1 0
V ...
'.,.
30 40 00 30.0 400 600 9 o0:
Idea of deSIgn for short-time flow of
material.
The extreme intensity of reaction in Figure 3.
MARCH 1950 Coming In Marcil-Our 11th Annual Directory 121
 n;J))II1,,;/}}JI If'"
--
~--
"1";;
....-H()T GAS

,; "II" I;;;; ')))));

differences is in the buffer and the
laminar layers. Here the variation of
viscosity with temperature changes the
flow. For instance, the effective shear
stress '1' is given by
agitation due to bubble formation and
thus better correlation of tests for
different liquids and different test
conditions.
If the wall temperature is increased
yll!'5U~
- COOLING LIQUID beyond a critical value over the bail.
dU d (OVI aU')
Figure 4
'1'

; = va;-u/v' + dT T' OX + oy
ing point of the liquid, it has been
found that a vapor envelope fonns
over the surface, and the heat flux is
liquid is small, so that the flow is es-
where v is the kinematic viscosity, T reduced by the insulating eHect of the
sentially isothermal.
Turbulent flow in a duct-say a cir- the temperature, u'v' the instantaneous stagnant vapor. Therefore, with speci.
turbulent velocities in the directions fied pressure and flow velocity, there
cular pipe-can be divided into three
regions (fig. 2) : the turbulent central parallel with the wall and normal to is definitely a maximum value of heat_
core where Reynolds' turbulent shear- the wall, and T' is the . temperature flux density even with local boiling at
ing stress dominates the molecular or fluctuation. The bar over the second the surface. If still, high heat-flux
viscous shearing stress, the ·laminar and third terms means averaging with density is desired, then other means
layer next to the wall where the vis- respect to time. of cooling have to be used.
cous shearing stress dominates the The third term does not occur for
turbulent shearing stress, and the buff- isothermal flows. By its appearance in WallwTemperature Effects
er layer where hoth shearing stresses the equation for shear and the vari·
are important. For the turbulent cen- able )1 in the first term means now the However, even before reaching this
tral co ie, which occupies most of the effects of heat conduction, and the intrinsic limit of boiling-heat transfer.
pipe, previous experiments with iso- effects of shear are now coupled. The the wall temperature at the inside sur·
thermal flow indicate that the flow in solution is thus more difficult than the face of the rocket motor may be too
general, and the velocity profile in corresponding isothermal problem, but high for the material strength, due to
particular, are controlled by the shear the difficulty is believed to be sur- the necessary temperature gradient
stress 'T at the boundary of the tur- mountable. through the wall for the heat flux. For
bulent core, the density p of the liquid When the wall temperature is raised instance, if the heat flux is 6 Btu per
and a linear dimension Y1' Since the beyond that of the boiling of the sec per sq in, the wall thickness is 1/16
boundary of the turbulent core is very liquid under prevailing pressure in the in, and the temperature at the cool
pipe, local vaporization takes place
close to the wall, '1' is practically equal· side of the wall is 600 0 F, the tempera-
to the wall shearing stress To. Together and bubbles are formed over the sur- ture at the hot side of the wall will be
with p, 'To can define a velocity U. by face. But, since the main bulk of the 1950 0 F if stainless steel is used. This
TO
liquid is still at a temperature below temperature is certainly too high for
U~2.= _ the boiling point, these bubbles cannot good strength. New, powerful cooling
grow indefinitely. In fact, experime:nts methods for extremely high heat flux
P. by F. Kreith and M. Summerfield are sweat-cooling and film-cooling.
Then, if U is the velocity at a point show that they contract again and Film cooling (fig. 4) is achieved
y from the wall, the non-dimensional have a life span of about 1/100 sec- by establishing a thin liquid film in
equation for the velocity profile must ond. During its short life span, the contact with the hot gas over the sur-
be bubble does not seem to move hp- face to be cooled. Due to the shear-
U preciably from the wall. The main ing stress acting over the liquid-gas
consequence of the bubble formation interface, the liquid flows in the down-
and disappearance is the strong agHa- stream direction. Simultaneously, the
Ciearly, the only available linear di- . tion of the.fluid near the wall. . heating of the film by the hot gas
mension fOl' flow near the. boundary of It is then understandable that ihe evaporates the liquid. It is seen that,
the turbulent core is the distance of heat flux can be increased to nuiny so long as there is a liquid film, the
this boundary from the wall. Hence, times that of the case without local wall temperature is kept below the
for flow near the boundary of the boiling. This fact is shown clearly in boiling point of the liquid.
turbulent core, Y1 must be the thick- fig. 3, taken from the work of Kreith It is noted also that, to protect the
ness of the laminar and buffer layer. amI Summerfield (Refs. 6 and 7). wall from the hot gas, liquid film has
From previous experiments with iso- This means that a high rate of cooling to be reestablished by injection
thermal flow in smooth pipes (Ref. 4) , can be achieved without high flow through holes in the wall when the
it is found that velocity in the cooling duct. The thus- film upstream injection is evaporated.
U y reduced pressure drop in the cooling Of course, the intervals of injection
- = 13.94 + 5.5 loglO - duct will decrease the necessary pump- can be lengthened by injecting mote
UT Y1 ing work of the coolant. Boiling-heat liquid and establishing a thicker fibn
Since temperature differences in the transfer then can be used to. good, ad- each time. However, the difficulty here
liquid will change only the viscosity, vantage for many designers. The prob- is the instability of the film against
and, according to experiments viscos- lem for research here" of course, is a the turbulent flow in the gaseoUS
ity .' does not enter directly into the closer understa"nding of the turbulent boundary layer. The resultant partial
turbulent core flow, the velocity rela- breakaway of the liquid in the forrrt
tion given above must hold also for of droplets constitutes a loss in effec- .
non-isothermal flow.
The problem now is to determine
r~o-:~~ - - - :- : .-: : -__ _
_HOTGAS
tive cooling liquid. The problem he1'.e
is then the determination of the rela-
the thickness Y1' This thickness will .::.~I,.!: :,! ;/:, :{:,::.l;:\:I ..;)':::.\';,!:.'\:.!:~:}.:/<: . :':~::: I~ I'$:~s tive cooling efficiency with l'espect to"
vary with the temperature conditions.
The work of H. Reichardt (Ref. 5)
':T;;:::~~::;;;;;::::'
. .CDOll~. LjOUIO
film thickness.
From experience on one-phase tu~·;,
does not account for this variation SURFACE BOILING
bulent boundary layer, it is found t11~t.
and is therefore unsatisfactory. Thus, the laminar sublayer thickness y*{(s:..
the main effect of higher temperature Figure 5 determined. (Continued on page J2?fol

AERO D XG,~:.~;iij~
 y* - 5

~
Ct
U -
2
where v is the kinematic viscosity of
the fluid, U is the freestream velocity
and Ct is the local friction coefficient.
If this relation holds also for two-
-
phase turbulent boundary layers such HEATING ELEME:S
as exist in :film cooling, y* is the lim-
iting :film thickness for perfect effi-
ciency. If the :film thickness is larger
than y*, instability of the film and
breakaway of droplets is likely to oc-
cur. It is then seen that there is an
advantage in having a higher kinemat-
ic viscosity v, as layer thickness is Figure 6
allowed.
=
If U 1000 it/sec, Cr = 0.004, and
v = 0.319 X 10- 5 ft/sec for water (Ba H6 ) and air, are to be considered. front and the surface of the body.
at 212°F, y* is only 4.3 X 10- 6 in. The more urgent problems of com- It is evident that such a flame
This result indicates that, for theoreti- bustion in jet propulsion are those holder without turbulent and eddying
cal maximum cooling efficiency, the connected with fluid mechanical as- loss has many practical applications
:film should be very thin and reestab- pects. These are the auto-ignition of despite the difficulty in starting. In
lished frequently along the wall. The liquid jets, the evaporation of liquid fact, by increasing the length of the
limiting case is sweat-cooling, where droplets, the mixing of gaseous com· airfoil in the hot gas, the temperature
the coolant is forced through the por- ponents, the mutual influence of com· at the front part can be increased, and
ous wall and injection and 'evapora- bustion and turbulence of low com- thus the gas velocity can be raised
tion occur at the same time. bustion in the heterogeneous mixture without blowouts.
Sweat-cooling is, however, not lim- etc. For ramjets, the most perplexing The ultimate aim of all this basic
ited to the liquid coolant. The coolant problem today is the problem of flame research is, of course, to improve the
may be gaseous. In fact, the most stabilization. This is a problem which performance of rocket and jet-pro-
extensive experiments are made by P. confronts all ramjet designers. Worse pelled vehicles. However, even when
Duwez and H. L. Wheeler (Ref. 8) still, the mechanism of flame stabiliza- given the best powerplant, the design-
with gaseous coolants. However, it is tion is not yet understood. As a result, er still has to determine the best way
shown by the above investigators that the flame-holder design for the com- of using it for optimum performance
the coolant cannot be allowed to evap- bustion chamber is always 'done by of the completed vehicle. For instance,
orate in the porous wall, as then the ad hoc experimentation. what would be the optimu:m thrust
flow is essentially not stable, with wide Clearly, there is a need for experi. programming for a sound rocket?
fluctuations in the wall temperatures. ments with the simplest physical con- What would be the gain possible by
Generally, then, the most efficient ditions, so that the parameters can be varying the thrust during ascent? Is
sweat-cooling system, with least ex- controlled. The work of A. S. Scur- this gain justified by the additional
penditures of the coolant, is one that lock (Ref. 9) with homogeneous gas complication in the design?
evaporates the liquid coolant on the stream and controlled turbulence in The basic variational problem of
"outside" surtace of the porous wall the initial stream is the most note- thrust programming was studied by
before entering the porous material worthy effort in this direction.. How- G. Hamel (Ref. 10). However he
(fig. 5). In a sense, this system is a ever, for a true understanding of the made no detailed calculations to allow
combination of boiling-heat transfer mechanism, further detailed explora- the designer to weigh, the importance
and sweat-cooling. No extensive ex- tion of flow field is necessary. of different aspects of the problem.
periment on this method of cooling It seems that one of the important
has yet been made. aspects of flame stabilization is the Long-Range Trajectory
It is evident that, with either :film- interaction of the flame front and the
cooling or sweat-cooling, there is no boundary layer. To test this concept, But the fundamental question in the
limit to the temperature of the com- a flame holder is the shape of a performance analysis is the trajectory,
bustion gas that can be handled effec- streamlined body may be tried (fig. particularly the long-range trajectory.
tively. Thhefore, one need have no 6). To start the combustion, the air- Earlier in this discussion, the reason
misgivings about the high-energy fuels foil has to be heated first by, say, an for favoring the dynamic .trajectory
and propellants for cooling difficulties. electric current, to a high tempera- of varying velocity was gIven. But
Furthermore, for rocket, ramjet and ture. Once the flame is started, the what particular dynamic trajectory?
pulsejet, there is no contact of the airfoil aft of the flame is heated by To avoid the penalty of high drag at
combustion gas with a delicate mov· the hot gas. Heat is then conducted high velocity in the dense aquosphere
ing part, such as turbine blades in a through the body of the airfoil to the and yet to be able to accelerate the
turbojet; and the combustion gas can front section, where heat is given up vehicle quickly it is clear that the
be corrosive and can contain fmely. di· to the cold gas mixture through the vehicle should be launched vertically.
vided solid particles. These factors re- boundary layer. The cold gas mixture Performance of the vertical trajec-
move practically all restriction on the in the boundary layer being heated by tory of a rocket -is well-known. But
choice of iuels and propellants. Such the body will increase the concentra- is a rocket the only powerplant c~pa­
strange combinations as liquid hydro- tion of active carriers and finally ble of vertical trajectory? Certamly
gen and liquid fluorine, and diborane ignite at the intersection of the flame the ramjet-once boosted to a suffi-

AERO D I G:ES,,~~~
 clently high velocity-also can produce turbulenten Strtlmung in glatten Roh. Proure88 Report No. 4-88, Jet propul-
'enough thrust to make an accelerated verti- ren," Vel' Deut801l. Ing. Forsohung13beft, sion Laboratory, CIT (1919)
No. 356 (1982) 8, P. DuwEiz and H. Z_ WflElElLlllfl. "Ex-
cal flight A ramjet would weigh more than 5. H. RElICHARDT. "Die WUrmeUbertt'agung perImental Study of Cooling by Injec.
H rocket per lb of thrust proriuced, but the in tUl'bulonten Relsbungschlchten", tion of a FluId through a Po,ous Ma-
fuel consumption is very much smaller. Z.a.M.M. Vol. 20. pro 297-328 (1940)
r,'. KRlllTH and M. SUMMERFlJilI,D. "Hea,t
terla.l," .1, of AIl1-0. Solenoes, vol. 15,
G. pp. ~OD-521 (lS4S)
Preliminary estimaLes by Z. H. Schindel 'l'mnsfor to .Watel' at High Flux Den- D. A. C. SR;URLOOK. "Flame Stabilization
(Rei. 11) show that the advantage of low sWes with and without Surface Boll- and Propagation In High-Velocity Gas
fuel consumption overcomes the disadvan- ing," ASMEl T,ransactlons. Streams," ,lflltcur Report No. 19, Mass.
Alao I "Investigations of F!eat Transfel' Institute of Technology (1948)
tage of heavier dry weigh:. Thel'efore, there at High Heat-FlUX: Densities: Experl- 10. G. HAMEL: "Ubel' elne mit dem Prob·
is a definiLegain in substituting the lowest 'mental Study with Water of Friction lem del' Rakete zusammellhi1.ngende
stage of a multi-stage rocket with a ramjet. Drop and Forced Convection with and, Aufgabe del' Verlatlonsrechnung,"
without Surface BOiling In Tubes," Z_a.M.M. Vol. 7, pp_ 451-452 (1927)
Of C'ourse, to boost the ramj et to operating Progress R6port N. 4-68, Jet Propul· 11. Z. H. SClII~DEL: Application of I~amjl1t
speed, it has to be operated as a dueted sion Laboratory. CIT (1948) to High Altitude S0H1~di7'U Veldclfl8/'
rocket in the first few seconds. 7. F. KruilI'l'H and M. SVMMIilRFIELD. "Heat M. S. 'I'hesls, Dept. Aeronautical Engi-
What can one sny about the remainder 0'£ Transfer fl.'om an Electrically Heated neering, Mass. lnst. of Technology
Tub& to AnUina at High Heat Flux," (1947),
the trajectory? Since the high velocity of
the vehicle is reached outside the atmOE>-
phere by vertical or near vertical ascent, the
first part of the trajectory has to be Hitless
Bnd this is elliptical. When the vehicle reo
turns to the atmosphere at practically the
same speed as it leaves the atmosphere, the
lift of the body of the vehicle can be pro-
due-ed hy putting the body inte an angle of
attack. The question here then ill one of
programming' the angle of attack of the
hody so that the maximum range is eb-
,tained.
As an example of such a dynamic tra.·
jectory, the flight of a 3000-mile rocket ve·
hicle is studied under tire assumption of
steady glide after the initial elliptical path.
The aver~ge Hit-drag ratio in glide is taken
to be 4,. The result of this analysis is as
·follows;
Length 78.9 It
Maximum diameter
of body 8.86 If
Gross weight 96,500 Ibs
Fuel load 72,400 Ibs
Weight after
"Brennsd!lu$s" 24,100 Ib$
Propellant load·
ing fraction 0.750
Exhaust velocity 12,000 fflser:.
Propellant liquid 0, liquid H2 ;
liquid F2 liquid H,
Maximum yelocity 9140 mph
R<lng8 at conclu-
sion of elliptic
path 1200 miles
Range contribut~d
by glide r 800 miles
Altitude at be-
ginning of glide 27 miles
landing speed 150.mpb
. landing angle 20°
Flight duration Less than one hour
Thus it is seen that the requirements of
'it· transcontinental rocket.liner are not at all
Jleyond the grasp of present·day technology.
:Tho wings need not he large tel achieve a
;;~~asoliable landing speed, lind the specifica-
;~J(lUS on the structural weights are not Un·
*~ossible. When will such a rO!lket-liner 'be
j~ealized? That is a diffi!lult question. But
iOne thing is certain: the basic research as
~~utlined . in this discussion definitely will
~b(lsten the day of long-range rocket travel.
i:ijilFERENCES
':to A. I,. r~OWEuL. "A Guide to Ah:oraft
Powerplan t Selection," Aerona1.tioal
Enginoering Revi6w, Vol. 6, 'No.4, pp.
22-25 (1947)
S. T. ALFREY. "Non-E:omogeneous Stresses
In Visco-elaetlc Media," QU/Krterl'V oj
AppHoa Meol£a1~io8, Vol. 2, pp. 11S-119
(1944)
~. H. S. TSIIllN. "A Generalization of AI·
frey's theorem for Visco-elastic Media!',
Q1tarterZV of ./lppliea Mecha~w.t (1960)
~; .T. NIXURADSE. "Gesetzrnlissigkelten d~r

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