Supersonic Post Hole Digger
We figured we’d want to know just how bad things got on plain dirt. A few more firings like that and we’ll have a proper flame trench.
That dug out about 18 inches down and around 2.5-3 feet in diameter:
We figured we’d want to know just how bad things got on plain dirt. A few more firings like that and we’ll have a proper flame trench.
That dug out about 18 inches down and around 2.5-3 feet in diameter:
Unique way of keeping gas bottles warm,
…
Comment by Jess Lomas — 1/17/2007 @ 3:09 pm
Is your higher velocity jet more of a problem on dirt landings than Armadillo’s, since it in theory starts kicking up a lot of dust from higher altitude already? Or does the fact that you have more engine nozzles “dilute” it better?
Of course, rockets shouldn’t be landed on dirt except on emergency, and you can do it anyway “blind” with gps.
One thing that could greatly reduce the jet velocity & temperature and increase thrust would be a deployable augmentor. (I realize thrust isn’t a problem as the landing vehicle is empty.) It of course would be usable only at low speed and is dependent on the body aerodynamics and other things.
Comment by mz — 1/17/2007 @ 5:05 pm
Some guys you look at and go – man I wouldn’t have your job for all the money in the world. Other guys .. we envy you your toys.
Comment by Brian — 1/18/2007 @ 3:17 am
Mz,
Honestly we don’t know yet for sure. We haven’t tried landing in the dirt. But you can be sure that we’ll try it before the end of our test program. Some of the ideas we’ve been tossing around for our next vehicle would make it a lot more immune to landing issues on dirt, we think, but that’s to be seen in the future. As you point out, dirt landings are only an emergency/atypical kind of thing.
~Jon
Comment by jongoff — 1/18/2007 @ 4:00 am
[...] And if you still can’t get your fill of the hot flamey stuff, check out the supersonic post-hole digger they’ve got running hold-down tests at Masten Space Systems. [...]
Pingback by If you liked the picture… - Out of the Cradle — 1/21/2007 @ 11:42 pm
Keep the video and experiments coming….
Comment by StihlFan — 7/3/2008 @ 7:13 pm