From: JamesL@Lugoj.com   
      
   henry@spsystems.net (Henry Spencer) wrote:   
   > In article ,   
   > Ian Woollard   wrote:   
   >>> It could only work for that short period of time the craft was still in   
   >>> useful air.   
   >>   
   >>Clearly, however the ISP over that time is extremely high for a solid,   
   >>and reduces the GLOW of the vehicle quite a bit...   
   >   
   > And we care about that... why, exactly?   
      
   Depends on the objective. If one's intent is a SSTO _and_ SSTE (Single   
   Stage to Earth) RLV then I'd expect a designer would not want to deal with   
   the problems of de-orbiting a behemoth.   
      
   I'd like to know how you plan to return your behemoths from orbit, get them   
   back to your launch site, and do repeated launches with them without   
   breaking the bank on the extra ground infrastructure costs associated with   
   handling behemoths. There are advantages to keeping SSTO/SSTE launch   
   vehicles as compact as possible - within reason.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)