/sci/ - Science & Math

>>12294546
They also double as a heatshield.

>>12089267
The adaptive shape would probably be too much work for a few seconds of specific impulse. Really, the best use for an aerospace is to have it double as an actively cooled heat shield for reentering upper stages.

>>11887282
>not taking the ROMBUS truncated toroidal aerospike ass-slam pill

>>11763404
They add too much complexity for too little gain in efficiency. Could work as both engines and heat shields though.

>>11557943
Really only useful if the engine were expected to work both in vacuum and in an atmosphere thicker than Earth's. However it can double as a heat-shield ROMBUS style, so it has that going for it.

>>11198894
ROMBUS
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B
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>>11077831
They can also double as a heat shield.

>>11029810
>Are there any companies or programs looking into aerospikes these days?
There's probably still some smaller companies looking into them.

>What's the industry vibe about them?
The general opinion is that they perform (in terms of thrust and Isp) just as well as bell nozzle engines except that they're heavier for a given power and size, and they can't really be clustered like bell nozzle engines. However, there's still a potential for aerospikes as they can double as a heatshield. A Starship-like upperstage that uses one big blunt aerospike on the bottom can allow it to forgo thermal protection systems (like the tiles on Starship) AND removes the need to do a backflip (like the Starship has to to) as the rocket would already be in the proper orientation to propulsively land.

>>11026839
So you're saying that the ROMBUS assslam is the way to go?

>>11017299
>the virgin Starship belly flop

>the chad ROMBUS ASS SLAM

>>10994371
>the virgin Starship bellyflop
>the chad ROMBUS BUTTSLAM