That's part of what that spreadsheet was about. Now, I'm looking at lift-drag ratios and such. Just trying to understand how the concept might actually work.
The drag equation looks a lot like the kinetic energy equation. It's
Drag Force equals one half times the mass density of the "fluid" times velocity squared times the drag coefficient times the reference area. The reference area is the projection of a 3d object into 2 dimensions.I guess John Powell has it all figured out. Not me.
Update a short time later:
This may all seem discombobulated in terms of what I'm writing today. But it is all related in what you believe. John Powell believes he can get to space this way. Nobody else does. If and/or when he proves it, then everyone will be forced to believe because it will be a fait accompli.
Another update about an hour later:
abbreviated form of the equation about drag
FD = 1/2*m*v2*CD*A
It occurred to me what the mass might be in the equation above. At one mile per second, you have to move a miles worth of mass out of the way. But the kinetic energy equation indicates that has already been accounted for ( I think ). So, we just use the density as the air pressure for mass "m" at a given altitude. That comes from the spreadsheet calcs in the previous post. Drag coefficients are usually less than 1. An X-15 rocket plane of the 50-60's era was 0.095.
That leaves the Area, which is kinda hard to figure with JP Aerospace's ATO ship.
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