Die Bahnbestimmung einer Schwachbeschleunigten rakete in einem zentralen gravitationsfeld
- Paper ID
IAK-52-16
- author
- company
- country
The Netherlands
- year
1952
- abstract
Although for the first time to come the artificial satellite aroundtha sarih will he the central problem of space travel, the question how further to penetrate into the depth of space is of interest and may concern us as a preperation for later time. One of the great questions of astronautics is how to reduce the mass ratio as much as possible. As long as we have ratio, only'chemical means of propulsion at our disposal, the mass ratio, involved with obtaining circular or parabolic speed, becomes considerable, on account of the relatively low gas speed in the jet. However already methods are indicated, by Oberth and other investigators, for obtaining larger speeds of flow, e.g. by acceleration of ions in a electric field, in this way a much larger gas speed and subsequently a much lower mass ration for a required increment of speed seems to be attainable. On the other hand the thrust which can be reached in such a way is small, so that this method can only come into consideration for vehicles in free space when the terrestrial potential gravity drop is mainly overcome and further small accelerations suffice. A great advantage of low accelerations are the small inertia forces involved, so that the construction of the vehicle can be very light. This feature again relieves the mass ratio difficulties considerably. The stresses due to pressure and rotational■accelerations in containers and living rooms can be met efficiently by cylindrical or spherical design. Hence in case of free space vehicles, it seems advantageous, to keep accelerations small. This includes that the thrust is extended over a considerable part, if not the whole, of the range to pass through.