Test of an aerospike rocket engine
Test of an aerospike rocket engine
NASA test video here.
These things look cool as hell. Any aerospace folks here who can tell us more about them?
Me with my 1978 Wartburg scaring the neigbours during ignition...
They are quite interesting, technically a bit more efficient than usual engines. However in practice you end up having more problems with those as it is very hard to cope with the heat in the centre piece, while rocket nozzles can radiate heat outside.
Check out rotating detonation engine for the latest application of the aerospike principle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_detonation_engine
Tim Dodd did a really good video on them. It explains what they are and compares against traditional rocket engines.
That is a great video. Thanks for the link!
You're welcome!
Thats hot.