From: gdpusch@NO.xnet.SPAM.com (Gordon D. Pusch)
Newsgroups: sci.physics.plasma
Subject: Re: Shuttle re-entry and plasma behaviour - solutions
Organization: XNet Information Systems, Inc.
References: <b1qv9o$1e5$1@saturn.cs.uml.edu> <b230oh$bhnl$1@saturn.cs.uml.edu>


Mike Rosing <rosing@neurophys.wisc.edu> writes:

> We need to create a "force field" that will use the plasma to insulate
> the ship for the full re-entry heating phase. Make it able to fly like
> a real airplane in the air rather than the supersonic rock it is. Then
> you won't have to check the skin for re-entry, just your power plant!

Both magnetic and electrostatic plasma control systems have been studied.
The power requirements are exorbitant, and the mass of the hardware exceeds
even that of the active cooling system that the original Shuttle design
called for, before Congress subjected it to the Death of a Thousand Cuts,
Development Slowdowns, and Funding Delays.


-- Gordon D. Pusch

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