Applications for Aerogels

[the_big_m_in_ok]

Cloxxki said:

General uses already identified and persued that I know of:

... - Space crafts have been mentioned. A light space craft takes little power to be propelled, and crashes softly. Drop out of orbit, and land much like a tree leaf. The decelleration when entering athmosphere may be a bit rough, but heat won't be the problem. ...

Please use this topic to educate me and others, and to come up with good uses for aerogels, which might justify developing versions special properties.

@Cloxxki,
As a sideline to spacecraft insulation, supersonic/hypersonic aircraft insulation should come in a close second.  It has to be resilient in either application, obviously.

Aerospace engineering is also one of my main intersets along with electronic engineering/free energy.
--Lee

[Cloxxki]

@Lee,
I share your feelings here.
It hurts my innovative soul that Concorde flew, flew amazingly, and stopped flying. Since it stopped flying, top cruise speeds for long distance flying has plummeted to less than half.
Alternative designs exist fo a long time, but the powers that be rather invest in oil wars (even if they get little oil out of it) rather than catching up on applied science.
Concorde wasn't even unrealiable. It was simply 30 years old, and little improvements implemented for it. Not bad, for a thing with a French name! Sometimes they get it right (like the Citroën C15), but upgrading, NEVER. Ah, I feel better now. French friends, please notice proverbial wink here.

Ultrasonic crafts will need to deal with heat build-up much like the flawed and equally outdated Spaceshuttle. It once was a modern thing, just not a second reliable like Concorde. I prefer Burt Rutan's approah to re-entry, taking slow, not getting how. More resistance rather than less. Good design, so you end up spending less to get the same, or more.
Also, I think it's sub-human to do so little about gas mileage of air planes. A percent here and there. Private air planes are competing with sports cars for fuel efficiency. A few decades from now, wheels will be seen as a very inefficient way keep a vehicle spaced from the earth. Flying? Even birds do it, on old bread, wurms and rain water.

My own interest is indoor cross-country skiing facilities Ski tunnels. Store lots of cold water/ice/snow, and let that offset the visitor's warmness until the next winter comes and the roof can be opened. With just the addition of good cold storage and retention, such facilities would only need electricity for lighting.

[the_big_m_in_ok]

Cloxxki said:

@Lee,
I share your feelings here.
...Alternative designs exist fo a long time, but the powers that be rather invest in oil wars (even if they get little oil out of it) rather than catching up on applied science. ...

Right!!!  Political games are being played and only they win.

Ultrasonic crafts will need to deal with heat build-up much like the flawed and equally outdated Spaceshuttle. It once was a modern thing, just not a second reliable like Concorde.

Yep.  There are new materials to do that, but the newest one reflects heat away from the craft, which is absolutely the way to go.

I prefer Burt Rutan's approah to re-entry, taking slow, not getting how. More resistance rather than less. Good design, so you end up spending less to get the same, or more.

Rutan's SpaceShipOne needs to be redesigned completely to return from orbit.  It's going 8 times as fast, so that's 64 times the heat generated.  Something new is needed.

--Lee

[Cloxxki]

Do you mean SpaceShipOne will need to orbit higher to make it halfway around earth, and then re-enter at higher velocity?

One has to think : how quick to fly this half orbit? Too fast, and the stewardesses will need magnetic shoes to walk the isle. Drinking coffee will become complicated also. Or, go faster still, and orbit inverted. A "sun roof" would show us earth.

Shouldn't we also be thinking of putting all that re-entry heat to better use, rather than just getting rid of it?

[the_big_m_in_ok]

Cloxxki said:

Do you mean SpaceShipOne will need to orbit higher to make it halfway around earth, and then re-enter at higher velocity? One has to think : how quick to fly this half orbit?

At the very least.  How fast?  The SpaceShipOne goes about Mach 3 and the low earth orbit(LEO) satellite is about Mach 25.  That's at least 8 times the velocity and 64 times the BTUs hitting the craft.
(Energy varies by the square of the speed.)

Too fast, and the stewardesses will need magnetic shoes to walk the isle. Drinking coffee will become complicated also. Or, go faster still, and orbit inverted. A "sun roof" would show us earth.

Yeah.  That's the point of SpaceShipOne's tourist-oriented design.  Weightlessness for, say, 2 minutes.  Then fall out of the upper stratosphere.

Shouldn't we also be thinking of putting all that re-entry heat to better use, rather than just getting rid of it?

Well, maybe a Bussard-ramjet-type of arrangement to capture ions and electrons to somehow cushion the force of drag on the ship?  Otherwise, it's heat that can melt the ship and fry the crew next after that.

Aerogels can help there, but don't let the heat past it!!  The whole thing will turn into a Roman candle across the sky.   

--Lee