Responsive Access Small Cargo Affordable Launch (RASCAL ...

Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) technologies improved the need to defend from
high speed bombers was superceded by the need to protect from ICBMs. This put
MIPCC on the technology shelf until recently with the advent of the RASCAL program.
The MIPCC bolt-on additions to the F-100 turbofans are the single most
important enabling technologies for the RASCAL design. The MIPCC is what is used to
attain the engine inlet conditions desired in the turbofan design section. MIPCC is a
technology that introduces tanked water and LOX to the incoming air flow (precompressor)
at high Mach numbers and at high altitudes. Typical aircraft engines are
limited in altitude by the density of the incoming fluid (oxidizer). Typical turbofans are
also limited in speed of the flow by the temperature limits of the combustor materials.
MIPCC pushes out the altitude and speed boundaries by both cooling and adding density
to the incoming flow of a turbofan. The result is that at high Mach numbers the incoming
air is cooled by the water and the LOX. This allows the engine to operate at Mach
numbers far exceeding the design limits for the nominal turbofans. Another benefit is
that the incoming water and LOX add density to the incoming flow. This allows the
engine to operate at higher altitudes that the design limits. A third benefit is that the LOX
in the intake acts as a stabilizer in the oxidizer deprived combustion chamber at high
altitudes. A diagram of a MIPCC augmented engine is included as Figure 11.
Figure 11: MIPCC Design Features [2].
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