Quote:
Originally Posted by mental4astro
Here's another curve ball: elevators on the wings?
As it enters the atmosphere, and drag takes effect, elevators on the wings would act to raise the nose and lift the craft. It's nose would then drop again, descend, and rise up again, doing a constant dip-and-dive action. This would also act to slow the plane.
Something more to ponder...  |
The wing nuts on here might be able to help, but I think it would depend on whether air density and air speed can be treated as being inversely proportional for the purposes of flying at these speeds, so that this familiar pattern could still occur. I also understand the speed would change periodically in this scenario and each lift and drop of the nose would depend on a certain air speed:air density ratio. Each lifting of the nose would require an increase in speed to occur first, and we'd have to ensure the preceeding deceleration from lifting the nose does not disrupt the paper craft by throwing it into some other position than what is required for the next cycle, or outright destruction. I'm also having trouble imagining how exactly it could even accelerate again once the atmosphere starts to slow it, but while it's still travelling at enormous speed. I'm thinking the plane's encounter with the atmosphere might not involve any acceleration at all, just a change in the rate of slowing - until the process is driven purely by aerodynamics.