Thanks for the insights! Will try the mods for KSP :) In stock KSP, i get around the launch weight limitations usually by assembling the craft in orbit. In trips to Jool, i have a craft that never leaves space, and gets refueled in kerbin orbit. For the orbital brake, ive tried using higher ISP...
Yep... again, its not about what is optimal, but what makes me happy :) like flying a glider in the age of jets
Also, i did some testing in Kerbal Space Program (the most scientifically accurate program) and you could get a 13 to 20 ton airplane to Jool, a close analog to saturn, and use a sort...
Many thanks for the insights and kind words tho i dont think its that original. Floating Worlds by Cecilia Holland came out in 1976 and its got similar ideas and others like Robert L. Forward's Saturn Rukh have expounded on the idea of flight in Saturn (albeit on the alien Rukhs)
If delta v wasnt a problem, like we had an excess of delta v at re entry, could we manage to slow down a more significant load without having to rely on heat shielding as much?
Or would a concept like a space hook help in these situations?
EDIT: or perhaps two orbital rings, one dipping into...
Hmm just for clarity, i assumed the craft would be assembled in orbit and brought to Saturn, i dont think thats completely unrealistic even by what we can achieve today. Its more a question of cost, which im removing as a constraint since, as you have recognized, anyone attempting this is...
hmmmm regarding the point, it comes from curiosity more so than anything else. Regarding the technology, I think I would respectfully disagree that prop planes would have no place in a future that had more advanced technology. Prop planes have seen their glory days, but you still see them being...
It was going off of the theoretical postulation from xkcd where he projectes what would happen to a cessna in Saturn's atmosphere.
I think the point of the question is more theoretical in that sense, would it be more or less possible to do it, in contrast to the implication in xkcd's article...
True but doesnt saturn have areas that are less windy? In the higher latitudes i think there are relatively calm areas. Temperature is a concern, but isnt the overall tone of Interplanetary Cessna a bit too pessimistic when considering prop planes on Saturn?
I guess what im asking is, is it not...
Can this be solved by having the entire craft protected within a module designed to aerobrake in Saturn's atmo? Then deploy the craft once in thicker atmosphere? It could just glide into cruising speed...
Agree this would be a problem. Would changing out the propeller for a hydrogen jet engine...
I am currently trying to make a game about Saturn and came across the xkcd article about the Interplanetary Cessna. Could their assessment of Saturn's atmosphere be incomplete in this context?
Saturn has a relatively dense atmosphere, even tho its mean molecular mass is just 2.07. At the...