From: rodneykelp605@hotmail.com   
      
   If you suddenly stopped after orbiting at 18,000mph you'd still drop like a   
   rock and burn up.   
   Maybe we could use a quantam nucleonic reactor to drive a large turbine to   
   slow the fall. The amount of hafnium 137 needed would fit in a lunch box.   
   The exhuast thrust could slow you down until you hit atmosphere where the   
   fan blades would also generate reverse thrust.   
      
   "Zoltan Szakaly"  wrote in message   
   news:58866faa.0404272115.a660bf6@posting.google.com...   
   > I believe that we have beaten this horse to death here during prior   
   > discussions.   
   >   
   > Yet I feel dissatisfied with the extent of our discussions and the   
   > state of the art in reentry technology. I feel that something can be   
   > done to reduce the typical heating during reentry.   
   >   
   > My understanding is that during reentry there is a short time period   
   > of maximum heating akin to the maximum dynamic pressure during ascent.   
   > I have several ideas on how we can reduce the maximum heating.   
   >   
   > 1. We mine and produce fuel on an asteroid (NEO) or on the Moon and   
   > get the fuel to Earth orbit. Then we refuel before reentry and burn   
   > all the fuel out in a retro burn to minimize our orbital velocity.   
   >   
   > 2. We install a long rail on a space station and use that to   
   > accelerate backwards thereby boosting the station's orbit as we   
   > deorbit.   
   >   
   > 3. We fabricate cheap large heat shields either on the Moon or on an   
   > asteroid and move them to Earth orbit. Upon arrival the heat shields   
   > can be marketed as scrap metal. This can be a way to return raw   
   > material from space mines.   
   >   
   > 4. We use air breathing engines to maintain a high altitude during   
   > reentry thereby spending a long time in rare air that reduces the heat   
   > load.   
   >   
   > 5. We use a large saucer shaped shell that reduces the unit loading   
   > and gives us enough aerodynamic lift to keep us in the high atmosphere   
   > while decelerating. This shell could be inflated or fabricated on the   
   > Moon or asteroid. Perhaps a large spherical shell could also be used.   
   >   
   > 6. We use the tail of the atmosphere where the effect of the solar   
   > wind increases the atmospheric density at high altitude, thereby we   
   > spend a longer time decelerating in rare air.   
   >   
   > 7. We could produce solid fuel like exterior coating that would burn   
   > off and ablate during reentry giving us additional lift or retro   
   > thrust. This way we could more agressively decelerate in the upper   
   > atmosphere avoiding high heating.   
   >   
   > Any thoughts?   
   >   
   > Zoltan   
      
      
   ---   
   Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.   
   Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).   
   Version: 6.0.675 / Virus Database: 437 - Release Date: 5/2/2004   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)