http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4221/contents.htm
SP-4221 The Space Shuttle Decision
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4221/ch2.htm
SP-4221 The Space Shuttle Decision
CHAPTER 2
....in the offing, advocates of advanced propulsion saw their prospects in two novel concepts: LACE (Liquid Air Cycle Engine), an airbreathing rocket; and the scramjet, a hypersonic jet engine.
LACE sought to overcome the requirement that a rocket must carry its oxygen as a heavy quantity of liquid in an onboard tank. Instead, this concept sought to allow a rocket to get its oxygen from air in the atmosphere. Because rocket engines operate at very high pressure, no air compressor could compress the ambient air so as to allow it to flow into a thrust chamber. If the air could be liquefied, however, it would form liquid air, which could be pumped easily to high pressure. LACE sought to do this by passing the incoming air through a heat exchanger that used supercold liquid hydrogen, chilling the air into liquid form. The engine then would use the hydrogen and liquefied air as propellants.
This approach drew strong interest at Marquardt Co., a Los Angeles propulsion-research firm. In tests at Saugus, California in 1960 and 1961, Marquardt engineers successfully demonstrated a LACE design that used heat exchangers built by Garrett AiResearch. A film of those tests, shown at a conference of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences in March 1961, shows liquid air coming down in a torrent, as seen through a porthole. Marquardt went on to operate test engines with thrusts of up to 275 pounds. During these tests, LACE performed twice as well as conventional hydrogen-fueled rockets.
There were further innovations as well. Four-fifths of air is nitrogen, which does not burn. The presence of this nitrogen reduced the performance of LACE by cooling the exhaust and demanding extra liquid hydrogen to accomplish liquefaction. Oxygen, however, liquefies at 90 degrees Kelvin while nitrogen liquefies at the lower temperature of 77 degress Kelvin. Thus, by carefully controlling the heat-exchange process, oxygen in the air could be liquefied preferentially. This represented a topic for further research. In 1967, at General Dynamics, a test of this concept demonstrated 90 percent effectiveness in excluding the nitrogen.
While LACE represented a new direction in rocket research, the scramjet represented advances in the design of the ramjet. Ramjet engines showed their power during the 1950s when the Lockheed X-7, an unpiloted missile, reached Mach 4.31 or 2881 miles per hour setting a record for the flight of airbreathing engines. This was close to the speed limit of a ramjet. Air in such a ramjet, flowing initially at supersonic speeds, had to slow to subsonic velocity in order to burn the fuel. When it slows, an engine becomes hot and loses engine power.
For a ramjet to reach speeds well beyond Mach 4, this internal airflow would have to remain supersonic. This would keep the engine cool and prevent it from overheating. This also imposed the difficult problem of injecting, mixing, and burning fuel in such a supersonic airflow. Nevertheless, a number of people hoped to build such an engine, which they called a scramjet.
Scramjet advocates included Alexander Kartveli, the vice president for research and development at Republic Aviation, and Antonio Ferri, a professor at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. During World War II, Ferri had been one of Europe's leading aerodynamicists and had directed Italy's premier research facility, a supersonic wind tunnel. Kartveli was one of America's leading airplane designers, crafting such fighter aircraft as the F-84 and the F-105. During the 1950s, his focus was on another proposed fighter, the XF-103 that was to use a ramjet to reach speeds of Mach 3.7 (2450 mph) and altitudes of 75,000 feet.
Ferri, who worked as a consultant on this project, formed a close friendship with Kartveli. They complemented each other professionally; Kartveli studying issues of aircraft design, Ferri emphasizing the details of difficult problems in aerodynamics and propulsion. As they worked together on the XF-103 they each stimulated the other to think bolder thoughts. Among the boldest put forth first by Ferri, and then supported by Kartvelli with more detailed studies, was the idea that scramjet-powered aircraft would have no natural limits to speed or performance. They could fly to orbit, reaching speeds of Mach 25.
In the Air Force, concepts such as LACE and scramjets drew support from Weldon Worth, technical director at the Aero Propulsion Lab of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Beginning in about 1960, Worth built up a program of basic research called Aerospaceplane. Not aiming at actually building an airplane that would fly to orbit, the program pursued design studies and propulsion research that might lead to such aircraft in the distant future. The propulsion efforts were often very basic. When, in November 1964, Ferri succeeded in getting a scramjet to deliver thrust, it was impressive enough to merit an Air Force news release. Ferri went on to set a goal of 644 pounds of thrust for his test engine; he managed 517 pounds, 80 percent of his goal.
Aerospaceplane was too hot to keep under wraps. As a steady stream of leaks brought continuing coverage in the trade magazine Aviation Week. At the Los Angeles Times, the aerospace editor Marvin Miles developed his own connections, which led to banner headlines: "Lockheed Working on Plane Able to Go Into Orbit Alone"; "Huge Booster Not Needed by Air Force Space Plane." The Air Force's Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) was not amused. As early as December 1960, it warned that "too much emphasis may be placed on the more glamorous aspects of the Aerospaceplane resulting in neglect of what appear to be more conventional problems."
From 9/2/1974 ( I returned to planet Earth after my 18 January 1974 first landing planet Venus ) to 2/26/1984 ( premiere US TV movie "Lace" starring my wife as "Lili" ) is 3 days 3 weeks 5 months 9 years
'33-59' ( my birth date US )
From 5/12/1965 ( I am active duty United States Navy aviator and United States Astronaut ) to 2/26/1984 ( premiere US TV movie "Lace" starring my wife as "Lili" ) is: 6864 days
From 7/16/1963 ( my wife ) to 5/1/1982 ( my graduation and commissioning United States Naval Academy Class of 1982 as Fleet Admiral Thomas Reagan United States Navy ) is: 6864 days
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087583
IMDb
The Internet Movie Database
Lace (1984) (TV)
Release Date: 26 February 1984 (USA)
Runtime: 300 min
Phoebe Cates ... Lili
From 6/19/1968 ( my 1st United States Navy Medal of Honor and I am US military fighter jet ace-in-single-day during Vietnam War ) to 11/26/1976 ( my first landing Jupiter moon Callisto ) is 3082 days
From 11/26/1976 ( my first landing Jupiter moon Callisto ) to 5/5/1985 ( premiere US TV movie "Lace II" starring my wife ) is 3082 days
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089453/
IMDb
The Internet Movie Database
Lace II (1985) (TV)
Release Date: 5 May 1985 (USA)
Plot Keywords: Astronaut
Phoebe Cates ... Lili
