With the un-predictable nature of sugar propellant I believe it would be in the best for the project to go with staged motors... On Aug 18, 2014 10:12 AM, "Richard Nakka" <richard.rocketry@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Mark, > Your suggestion of using the OTRAG concept is an interesting one and > may be the means to reach Space if a large diameter sugar motor proves > to be non-feasible. We've had good success with our 3.5" (89mm) sugar > motors, clustering these (with a 2 stage configuration) might work. > On the downside, clustering has its challenges. For example, the > potential for asymmetric thrust if not all motors burn with the same > thrust profile...which can happen with sugar motors. > Food for thought, anyway. > > Richard > > On Fri, Aug 15, 2014 at 6:25 PM, Redacted sender monsieurboo@xxxxxxx > for DMARC <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > This might be the perfect time for us to blue-sky a bit. We've fortified > > our ranks with a crop of new team members in the last few years, and old > > dogs like me who'd bought into the original innovative design concept may > > still have a few fizzling neurons to contribute for the cause. > > > > An over-the-top example: If truly massive sugar engines are proving too > > structurally marginal, one possibility would be to resurrect OTRAG with a > > "bundled" cluster of smaller engine modules. Of course there's much > more to > > the OTRAG concept, and the math might not work with sugar propellant -- > > again, just an illustrative example. > > > > We have a great opportunity to throw open the creative floodgates again > as > > we try to make our dream a reality. Who knows what we might come up > with! > > > > Cheers, > > > > Mark L > > DC > > > > > > > >