[AR] Re: Cold Gas Hydrogen Thruster (Re: Roll control...)

  • From: Henry Vanderbilt <hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2018 07:29:59 -0700

On 6/7/2018 7:16 AM, Craig Fink wrote:



On Thu, Jun 7, 2018 at 8:53 AM Henry Vanderbilt <hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

    Welcome to Classic Space System Errors 101.  This one is called,
    optimizing a design around the wrong parameter.  Isp is not the correct
    sole figure of merit for a RCS system.  (If it was, the perfect RCS
    thruster would be a cluster of laser diodes.)


Laser diodes? Were you thinking of using them in flashlight mode, or to heat something (like Hydrogen)?

Laser diodes (in fact any directional light emitter) produce ridiculously small amounts of thrust, but at ridiculously high Isp.

Henry


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