General Question In the Delta Glider, what exactly is the SCRAM jet for?

[Gothmog]

With regard to the Delta Glider, I'm curious as to exactly when one would use the SCRAM jets, since they only seem to work below 30 kilometers in altitude or so. Also you need to be traveling at a velocity of at least Mach 3 before you can engage the jets. But to reach Mach 3 you have to use the main rockets anyway.

I've been curious to see exactly what the SCRAM jets can do, but I can't seem to reach Mach 3 without reaching such a great altitude that air-breathing engines don't work very well.

So I guess I really have two questions: (1) How can I reach Mach 3 but still be low enough for the SCRAM jets to work, and (2) more basically, what exactly are they for?

 

[SiberianTiger]

For instance, if you happen to miss your target ground base on reentry by some thousand of km's, you may just cruise there on this SCRAMjet.

 

[Gothmog]

For instance, if you happen to miss your target ground base on reentry by some thousand of km's, you may just cruise there on this SCRAMjet.

That makes sense, I suppose.

BTW I like your sig about Russian cursive--I think the same thing about German cursive, and they use the same alphabet as we do!

 

[Hielor]

During ascent you can level off around 25-28km or so and reach Mach 3 on mains, then switch to scrams to build tangential velocity.

 

[SiberianTiger]

BTW I like your sig about Russian cursive--I think the same thing about German cursive, and they use the same alphabet as we do!

To be honest, I didn't produce the picture, just found it.

 

[Wishbone]

Scramjets save you the trouble of carrying oxidizer for at least part of the ascent. Oxidizer is _heavy_.