alright - here's the real deal...
if you ever wondered if i was mad enough to actually devise how or earth the RAMCASTER engine really works....
you wondered right :thumbup:
let me brask it down for ya, shall we?
turbine mode - the airflow (expected at some AoA) is directed straight up to the turbine diffuser... this is a small turbine, by most standards, but it packs one big afterburner, hence the name "turbo-rocket"
of course, we can't really expect this to work above mach 2.5... the engine would suffer from all assorments of evil and eventually, blow up taking the ship, the crew and our self-respect with it :hmm:
so onto stage 2 - RAMCASTER (LOW)
what you're looking at in the second illustration, is a ram-jet, this is a device that provides thrust by igniting air that's compressed by the very airspeed of the craft, removing the spinning turbo-compressor...
while the airflow compresses, it slows down to subsonic, and heats up quite...
while this is good for us between mach 2~5, the heat at higher speed eventually will have the engine blow up taking the ship, the crew and our self-respect with it :facepalm:
so we now engage RAMCASTER-HIGH
the ram-gates are closed, then the diffuser advances towards the front of the chamber... this allows the airflow to reach the burner at supersonic speed :blink:
igniting the supersonic air, our now scram-jet blasts off into the limits of reasonable flying, propelling the G42 into out of this world... almost...
the scramjet also has it's limitations, and pushing further it would cause it to blow up taking the ship, the crew and our self-respect with it :uhh:
otherwise, upon reaching the top of the atmosphere, there's not much more air left to burn our fuel.... we should probably consider doing something about that... right?
then on comes the rocket! - now, without the turbo-compressor, the turborocket can still set itself up to function as a pure rocket, breathing the internal oxidizer supply we've been hauling all along...
and that - is how we get to orbit! :thumbup:
of course, once we get up there, all the fuel tanks will be pretty much dry...
this is e3xpected, once in orbit, the G42 uses an OMS pack, which is fueled by RCS monopropellant... that gets you around when you're up there....
back to work now :tiphat: