At 11:38 PM 5/11/2003 -0600, land-speed-digest wrote:
>Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 11:47:38 -0700
>From: "Landspeed Louise Ann Noeth" <landspeedlouise@adelphia.net>
>Subject: hypersonic LSR
>
>Below is the Denver Post article (no charge courtesy of Lt Col Jolliffe) on
>the hypersonic vehicle. I queried him about how they seal the ends of the
>helium tunnel and he replied they use 4 mil plastic for the tunnel and the
>ends. One racer has already said he is looking into adding helium bottles
>with spray nozzles in the nose to see if he couldn't realize a speed
>increase from lowered drag.
Yeah, that thought crossed my mind as soon as I read that article. Then
came the problem of storage - in order to be effective, you essentially
have to create a vapor "skin" of helium around the vehicle, whatever it may
be. The quantities of gas we're talking about here are substantial - it
took these guys 7 tankers full to fill a two mile long plastic tube.
I suppose however you could just fire off the helium in the moments leading
up to the traps when the drag would be the highest... I dunno, there isn't
usually much room to begin with, large tank storage could be
difficult. It's a wonderful idea in theory, I just can't figure out how it
would work.
On the other hand, the driver's voice would sound hilarious after a run
like that, you know some of it's going to vent inside the cabin. :)
- Ralph
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