Comments by "mpetersen6" (@mpetersen6) on "How I 3D Printed a Metal Aerospike Rocket at Home" video.

  1. I've got an idea for a combination heat shield/rocket engine. Fiscripyion below 1) Central combustion chamber/s feeding a ring of nozzles that are oriented at 45° from the forward axis. The nozzles basically point in the opposite direction as normal. 2) The exhaust gases flow over an arched surface towards the perimeter. In profile the arch would only be one half of a full arch. 3) At the perimeter have a series of flaps that extend below the perimeter of the arched arched surface. 4) As the engine functions the gas flow across the surface increases pressure across the surface. The flaps at the outer edge cause gases to build up increasing the pressure at the edge. Think of the engine as being similiar to a blown wing on an aircraft. In reality the engine could probably be tested with low temperature materials using steam or even water sprayed at high presdure across the surface. The idea isn't to achieve an engine capable of propelling the vehicle in the launch phase. But instead to have an engine that would use the same structure as the re-entry heat shield as it's working surface. This could be used in an orbital vehicle that re-entry tail first and lands vertically. And while rocket engines work by ejecting a gas at high velocity and pressure that pressure is acting on the engine bell or aerospike surfaces as it expands to produce thrust.
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