The field of Aerospace had a memory lapse and it was a serious one. The whole idea of gathering gases for refueling spacecraft in LEO (skimming the upper atmosphere) orbit, dropped out of sight as far as most members of the AIAA were concerned. Those few with access to classified documents did nothing with it. This unfortunate episode left the field stuck behind a technical bottleneck for a generation.In this paper, I will review the PROFAC concept as presented in several papers by Sterge Demetriades (1959-1963) and LOXLEO as presented by Paul Klinkman (2007-2009) and offer a preliminary technical review and feasibility assessment of the concept. Experts who were contemporaries of Demetriades in the 1960's concluded that PROFAC probably would work, but was not needed.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Palooparambil, Ashish

Subject

• Industry
• Sustainability
• Energy
• Innovation

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042910-151158

Palabra Clave

• Space vehicles
• Sustainability
• Energy policy

Advisor

• Wilkes, John M.

Year

• 2010

Date created

• 2010-04-29

Ubicación

• Worcester

Resource type

• Interactive Qualifying Project

Rights statement

• In Copyright