5 ms·
It is a pet peeve of mine that people call all spike engines "aerospikes." An aerospike engine has a truncated physical spike that is replaced with expanding ga
by theothermkn 7y ago
It is a pet peeve of mine that people call all spike engines "aerospikes." An aerospike engine has a truncated physical spike that is replaced with expanding gasses. In other words, it has an aerodynamic spike, or aerospike. Spike engines that taper to a line (for linear engines) or a point (for cylindrical engines), are just "spike engines."
I know I've lost this one among popular and lay audiences. It's just way too cool to say 'aerospike.'
- foota 7y agoI was under the impression that the linear spike engines also used the mechanism of the air pressure keeping the gases in the right shape?
- theothermkn 7y agoThe issue is that an aerospike engine is a spike engine that has been truncated, with the truncated portion replaced with an aerodynamic "spike," which also eliminates base drag.
- catalogia 7y agoIs it even practically possible to have a non-truncated spike engine? If you don't truncate the spike, won't it get so thin that it'd just burn/melt off? It seems like all spike engines are truncated to at least a minimal degree. Or is the matter whether or not the truncation has aerodynamic effects? (Do any truncations not?)
- mLuby 7y agoPet peeve of mine is that you could have a missile propelled by an aerospike that also uses an aerospike to decrease drag.