Return-Path: Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 19:29:36 -0400 From: GCHudson@aol.com To: magnus@mit.edu Subject: Re: ROTON Lines: 36 Xref: im5.lcs.mit.edu mail.misc:555 X-Gnus-Newsgroup: mail.misc:555 Sat Oct 28 01:01:30 1995 >Are you the Gary Hudson who reportedly dreamed up the ROTON concept? Well, I'm connected with the concept. My partner Bevin McKinney was the original inventor. >I've been thinking about this lately and I wondered how well developed >it is. (It sounds great!) Have you or anyone else written any papers >on it? If so, where can I find them? No public papers about Roton have yet been written. There are two reasons for this state of affairs. First, we are in the middle of a patent filing. Second, we are still trying to refine the idea. There are a number of uncertainties such as blade number, loading, solidity, rotation speed, twist, and location on the vehicle body. On the other hand, there are a bunch of references on "rotor entry" from orbit, most done in the 1960s. NASA Ames did a series of reports (TN D-4537 [April, '68] is a good start) on rotor entry. >One of the things I was thinking about was re-entry modes - what sort >of TPS system would you use? I guess there are a lot of questions I >could ask, but if there are any paper studies of ROTON that's probably >the best place to start. The French patented the idea of rotor entry alone in 1964. There should be a few papers around on the subject. Generally, the heating is not bad depending on if you go with a gliding entry or a ballistic entry. It is certainly within the range of conventional TPS to protect the structures. BTW, we have looked at Magnus effects on tubular Roton rotors a bit. Haven't come to any conclusions. I just mention it given your e-mail address. Gary C. Hudson, owner Hudson Engineering also President, HMX, Inx.