초록 ▼

Atmospheric drag and heating of the forwardmost portions of high speed transatmospheric vehicles and projectiles are reduced by lowering the atmospheric mass density immediately forward of a moving body. A fine high speed stream or jet of a material containing a chemically interactive component is e

Atmospheric drag and heating of the forwardmost portions of high speed transatmospheric vehicles and projectiles are reduced by lowering the atmospheric mass density immediately forward of a moving body. A fine high speed stream or jet of a material containing a chemically interactive component is ejected forwardly of such a body moving at high speed with respect to the atmosphere and, in a preferred embodiment of this invention ignites by interaction with the oncoming atmosphere and forms a sustained zone of combustion that, in effect, acts as a maintained “fireball”that explodes away ambient atmosphere transversely of the moving body so that there is generated a zone of low atmospheric density immediately in front of the forwardmost portion of the body. A supply of ejectable material and equipment for forcibly driving the same through a nozzle are carried with the body. The ejected material is preferably pressurized to render it flowable before ejection. The addition of fine particulate material and/or material forming long chain molecules to the flammable component of ejected material facilitates projection of the fireball ahead of the moving body and, also, to increase the transverse dimension of the zone of reduced atmospheric mass density generated thereby.

대표청구항 ▼

A method of facilitating supersonic travel of a body through the atmosphere, comprising the step of: reducing atmospheric mass density in front of a body travelling through the atmosphere at supersonic speed by ejecting a flow of a chemically interactive material from the body forwardly thereof at a

A method of facilitating supersonic travel of a body through the atmosphere, comprising the step of: reducing atmospheric mass density in front of a body travelling through the atmosphere at supersonic speed by ejecting a flow of a chemically interactive material from the body forwardly thereof at a high velocity relative to the body and atmosphere such that the ejected material is heated solely thereby and interacts chemically to release thermal energy in the atmosphere in a region located a predetermined distance forwardly of the body to thereby provide said reduced atmospheric mass density.