In recent years we started to see alternative re-entry space capsule designs. I had also proposed several designs that used dry ice to cool the shielding and included warm gas propulsion to slow down the capsule during re-entry. My new idea is a little simpler. It is inspired by the maple copter seed. The idea is to use helicopter like blades to slow down the capsule.
The re-entry capsule will have curved canals on its surface to direct the air flow. As the capsule falls, the directed air will rotate the capsule in certain direction. The capsule will fall its tip pointing the ground and its bottom pointing towards the space. Small copter blades will protrude from the bottom section. The rotation of the capsule will induce lift effect on the blades reducing the fall speed of the capsule.
The blades would be opened in space before touching the atmosphere. Also, the capsule would orient itself for re-entry trajectory using on board cold propulsion. This propulsion would also be used to start the spinning of the capsule. Therefore, lift effect can be initiated much higher in the atmosphere. The spinning of the capsule would stabilize the re-entry trajectory as well. The spinning design would require special parachutes to be used to further slowdown the capsule.
Maple seed inspired re-entry capsule would be used to retrieve samples from space. It wouldn’t be suitable for human use.
No comments :
Post a Comment