Ship wing. Do they have to be Delta?

[Lazernugget]

I'm designing a new space craft model, but it does not use Delta wings, like most ships do. I need them to be efficient, because my ship is kinda large. (It's like a hybrid of a rocket, and the Space Shuttle), and so I have two questions:

1) My craft's wings look like really tall right triangles, that stretch from the entire middle section of the ship, but would they be efficient and work aerodynamically?

2)How much fuel does a craft need to go into space per pound? Like if it weighed like...I don't know, 12,000 pounds, how much acceleration/force/fuel would it need to go to space?

Thanks,

-Lazernugget

[Lazernugget]

Seriously, can someone answer? :D That would be helpful.

[cristo]

Seriously, can someone answer? :D That would be helpful.

You need to be patient. You waited 90 minutes for a response before this second post...

[russ_watters]

Wings are more efficient the higher the aspect ratio (ratio of span to chord). The Space Shuttle has very swept delta wings in order to not get torn apart upon re-entry.

Why does it matter if the wings are efficient? Its a spaceship!

[Lazernugget]

Well, it needs to go fast, (not slow it down) and it can't just tear apart...so any type of wing wouldn't fall apart or slow down? That doesn't seem realistic...

[enigma]

Wings don't make a spacecraft go fast. In fact, they don't do anything at all if it's in space. In real life, most satellites look sort of like refrigerators (http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1065&bih=855&q=satellite&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=f&oq=).

The space shuttle has wings so it can glide and be piloted to land on a runway.

The way to calculate fuel needed is with the Ideal Rocket Equation (http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/rktpow.html). To hit orbit launching from the equator, you'll probably need around 9000 m/s for the delta u. You'd probably be safe assuming 300-350 for Isp.

If all that seems too confusing, you'd probably be safe assuming 9 pounds of fuel for every pound of spacecraft if you use drop off boosters and maybe 15 to 20 if you aren't.