Spacecraft capable of aerodynamic flight in atmosphere
A
spaceplane
is a vehicle that can
fly
and
glide
like an
aircraft
in
Earth's atmosphere
and maneuver like a
spacecraft
in
outer space
.
[1]
To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft.
Orbital
spaceplanes tend to be more similar to conventional spacecraft, while
sub-orbital
spaceplanes tend to be more similar to
fixed-wing aircraft
. All spaceplanes to date have been
rocket
-powered for takeoff and climb, but have then landed as unpowered
gliders
.
Four types of spaceplanes have successfully launched to orbit,
reentered Earth's atmosphere
, and
landed
: the U.S.
Space Shuttle
, Russian
Buran
, U.S.
X-37
,
[2]
and the Chinese
CSSHQ
. Another,
Dream Chaser
, is under development in the U.S. As of 2019 all past, current, and planned orbital vehicles
launch vertically
on a
separate rocket
. Orbital
spaceflight
takes place at high velocities, with orbital kinetic energies typically greater than suborbital trajectories. This kinetic energy is shed as heat during
reentry
. Many more spaceplanes
have been proposed
, but none have reached flight status.
At least two suborbital
rocket-powered aircraft
have been launched horizontally into sub-orbital spaceflight from an airborne
carrier aircraft
before rocketing beyond the
Karman line
: the
X-15
and
SpaceShipOne
.
[a]
Operational principles
[
edit
]
Spaceplanes must operate in space, like traditional
spacecraft
, but also must be capable of atmospheric flight, like an
aircraft
. These requirements drive up the complexity, risk, dry mass, and cost of spaceplane designs. The following sections will draw heavily on the US Space Shuttle as the biggest, deadliest, most complex, most expensive, most flown, and only crewed orbital spaceplane, but other designs have been successfully flown.
Launch to space
[
edit
]
The flight trajectory required to reach orbit results in significant aerodynamic loads, vibrations, and accelerations, all of which have to be withstood by the vehicle structure.
[
citation needed
]
If the launch vehicle suffers a catastrophic malfunction, a conventional capsule spacecraft is propelled to safety by a
launch escape system
. The Space Shuttle was far too big and heavy for this approach to be viable, resulting in a
number of abort modes
that may or may not have been survivable. In any case, the
Challenger disaster
demonstrated that the Space Shuttle lacked survivability on ascent.
Space environment
[
edit
]
Once on-orbit, a spaceplane must be supplied with power by
solar panels
and batteries or
fuel cells
,
maneuvered in space
, kept in thermal equilibrium,
oriented
, and communicated with. On-orbit thermal and radiological environments impose additional stresses. This is in addition to accomplishing the task the spaceplane was launched to complete, such as satellite deployment or science experiments.
The Space Shuttle used
dedicated engines
to accomplish orbital maneuvers. These engines used toxic
hypergolic
propellants
that required special handling precautions. Various gases, including
helium
for pressurization and
nitrogen
for life support, were stored under high pressure in
composite overwrapped pressure vessels
.
Atmospheric reentry
[
edit
]
Orbital spacecraft reentering the Earth's atmosphere must shed
significant velocity
, resulting in
extreme heating
. For example, the
Space Shuttle thermal protection system
(TPS) protects the orbiter's interior structure from surface temperatures that reach as high as 1,650 °C (3,000 °F), well above the melting point of steel.
[3]
Suborbital spaceplanes
fly lower energy trajectories that do not put as much stress on the spacecraft thermal protection system.
The
Space Shuttle
Columbia
disaster
was the direct result of a TPS failure.
Aerodynamic flight and horizontal landing
[
edit
]
Aerodynamic control surfaces must be actuated
.
Landing gear
must be included at the cost of additional mass.
Air-breathing orbital spaceplane concept
[
edit
]
An air-breathing orbital spaceplane would have to fly what is known as a 'depressed trajectory,' which places the vehicle in the high-altitude hypersonic flight regime of the atmosphere for an extended period of time. This environment induces high dynamic pressure, high temperature, and high heat flow loads particularly upon the
leading edge
surfaces of the spaceplane, requiring exterior surfaces to be constructed from advanced materials and/or use
active cooling
.
[
citation needed
]
Orbital spaceplanes
[
edit
]
Space Shuttle
[
edit
]
The
Space Shuttle
is a retired, partially
reusable
low Earth orbital
spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) as part of the
Space Shuttle program
. Its official program name was
Space Transportation System
(STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development.
[4]
The first (
STS-1
) of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights (
STS-5
) beginning in 1982. Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. They launched from the
Kennedy Space Center
(KSC) in
Florida
. Operational missions launched numerous
satellites
,
interplanetary probes
, and the
Hubble Space Telescope
(HST), conducted science experiments in orbit, participated in the
Shuttle-
Mir
program
with Russia, and participated in the construction and servicing of the
International Space Station
(ISS). The Space Shuttle fleet's total mission time was 1,323 days.
[5]
Space Shuttle components include the
Orbiter Vehicle
(OV) with three clustered
Rocketdyne
RS-25
main engines, a pair of recoverable
solid rocket boosters
(SRBs), and the expendable
external tank
(ET) containing
liquid hydrogen
and
liquid oxygen
. The Space Shuttle was
launched vertically
, like a conventional rocket, with the two SRBs operating in parallel with the orbiter's three
main engines
, which were fueled from the ET. The SRBs were jettisoned before the vehicle reached orbit, while the main engines continued to operate, and the ET was jettisoned after main engine cutoff and just before
orbit insertion
, which used the orbiter's two
Orbital Maneuvering System
(OMS) engines. At the conclusion of the mission, the orbiter fired its OMS to deorbit and
reenter the atmosphere
. The orbiter was protected during reentry by its
thermal protection system
tiles, and it
glided
as a spaceplane to a runway landing, usually to the
Shuttle Landing Facility
at KSC, Florida, or to
Rogers Dry Lake
in
Edwards Air Force Base
, California. If the landing occurred at Edwards, the orbiter was flown back to the KSC atop the
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
(SCA), a specially modified
Boeing 747
designed to carry the shuttle above it.
The first orbiter,
Enterprise
, was built in 1976 and used in
Approach and Landing Tests
(ALT), but had no orbital capability. Four fully operational orbiters were initially built:
Columbia
,
Challenger
,
Discovery
, and
Atlantis
. Of these, two were lost in mission accidents:
Challenger
in 1986
and
Columbia
in 2003
, with a total of 14 astronauts killed. A fifth operational (and sixth in total) orbiter,
Endeavour
, was built in 1991 to replace
Challenger
. The three surviving operational vehicles were retired from service following
Atlantis
'
s
final flight
on July 21, 2011. The U.S. relied on the Russian
Soyuz spacecraft
to transport astronauts to the ISS from the last Shuttle flight until the launch of the
Crew Dragon Demo-2
mission in May 2020.
[6]
Buran
[
edit
]
The
Buran
programme
(
Russian
:
Буран
,
IPA:
[b??ran]
, "Snowstorm", "Blizzard"), also known as the "VKK Space Orbiter programme" (
Russian
:
ВКК ≪Воздушно-Космический Корабль≫
,
lit.
'Air and Space Ship'),
[7]
was a
Soviet
and later Russian reusable
spacecraft
project that began in 1974 at the
Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute
in
Moscow
and was formally suspended in 1993.
[8]
In addition to being the designation for the whole Soviet/Russian reusable spacecraft project,
Buran
was also the name given to
orbiter 1K
, which completed one uncrewed spaceflight in 1988 and was the only Soviet reusable spacecraft to be launched into space. The Buran-class orbiters used the expendable
Energia
rocket as a
launch vehicle
.
The Buran programme was started by the
Soviet Union
as a response to the United States
Space Shuttle program
[9]
and benefited from extensive espionage undertaken by the
KGB
of the unclassified US Space Shuttle program,
[10]
resulting in many superficial and functional similarities between American and Soviet Shuttle designs.
[11]
Although the Buran class was similar in appearance to
NASA
's
Space Shuttle orbiter
, and could similarly operate as a
re-entry
spaceplane, its final internal and functional design was different. For example, the main engines during launch were on the Energia rocket and were not taken into orbit by the spacecraft. Smaller rocket engines on the craft's body provided propulsion in orbit and de-orbital burns, similar to the Space Shuttle's
OMS pods
. Unlike the Space Shuttle, Buran had a capability of flying uncrewed missions, as well as performing fully automated landings. The project was the largest and the most expensive in the history of Soviet
space exploration
.
[8]
X-37
[
edit
]
The
Boeing X-37
, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable
robotic spacecraft
. It is boosted into space by a
launch vehicle
, then re-enters Earth's atmosphere and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the
Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office
, in collaboration with
United States Space Force
,
[12]
for orbital
spaceflight
missions intended to demonstrate
reusable space technologies
. It is a 120-percent-scaled derivative of the earlier
Boeing X-40
. The X-37 began as a
NASA
project in 1999, before being transferred to the
United States Department of Defense
in 2004. Until 2019, the program was managed by
Air Force Space Command
.
[13]
An X-37 first flew during a drop test in 2006; its first orbital mission was launched in April 2010 on an
Atlas V
rocket, and returned to Earth in December 2010. Subsequent flights gradually extended the mission duration, reaching 780 days in orbit for the fifth mission, the first to launch on a
Falcon 9
rocket. The sixth mission launched on an Atlas V on 17 May 2020 and concluded on 12 November 2022, reaching a total of 908 days in orbit.
[14]
The seventh mission launched on 28 December 2023 on a
Falcon Heavy
rocket, entering a
highly elliptical
high Earth orbit
.
[15]
[16]
Chongfu Shiyong Shiyan Hangtian Qi
[
edit
]
The
Chinese reusable experimental spacecraft
(
Chinese
:
可重?使用??航天器
;
pinyin
:
K? chongfu sh?yong shiyan hangti?n qi
;
lit.
'Reusable Experimental Spacecraft'; CSSHQ) is the first
reusable spacecraft
produced by China. It embarked upon its initial orbital mission on 4 September 2020.
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
According to media reports, the CSSHQ is launched into Earth orbit in a vertical configuration while enclosed within the payload fairings of a rocket like a traditional satellite or space capsule, but it returns to Earth via a runway landing like a conventional aircraft; the landing is conducted autonomously (unlike the
Space Shuttle
). In the absence of any official descriptions of the spacecraft or photographic depictions thereof, some observers have speculated that the CSSHQ may resemble the
X-37B
spaceplane of the United States in both form and function.
[21]
[22]
Suborbital rocket planes
[
edit
]
Two piloted suborbital rocket-powered aircraft have reached space: the
North American X-15
and
SpaceShipOne
; a third,
SpaceShipTwo
, has crossed the US-defined boundary of space but has
not
reached the higher internationally recognised boundary. None of these crafts were capable of entering orbit, and all were first lifted to high altitude by a carrier aircraft.
On 7 December 2009,
Scaled Composites
and
Virgin Galactic
unveiled
SpaceShipTwo
, along with its atmospheric
mothership
"Eve". On 13 December 2018,
SpaceShipTwo
VSS Unity
successfully crossed the US-defined boundary of
space
(although it has not reached space using the internationally recognised definition of this boundary, which lies at a higher altitude than the US boundary).
SpaceShipThree
is the new spacecraft of
Virgin Galactic
, launched on 30 March 2021. It is also known as
VSS Imagine
.
[23]
On 11 July 2021
VSS Unity
completed its first fully crewed mission including Sir
Richard Branson
.
The
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105
was an atmospheric prototype of an intended orbital spaceplane, with the suborbital
BOR-4
subscale heat shield test vehicle successfully
reentering the atmosphere
before program cancellation.
HYFLEX
was a miniaturized suborbital demonstrator launched in 1996, flying to 110 km altitude, achieving
hypersonic flight
, and successfully reentering the
atmosphere
.
[24]
[25]
History of unflown concepts
[
edit
]
Various types of spaceplanes have been suggested since the early twentieth century. Notable early designs include a spaceplane equipped with wings made of combustible alloys that it would burn during its ascent, and the
Silbervogel
bomber
concept.
World War II
Germany and
the postwar US
considered winged versions of the
V-2
rocket, and in the 1950s and '60s winged rocket designs inspired
science fiction
artists, filmmakers, and the general public.
[26]
[27]
United States (1950s?2010s)
[
edit
]
The
U.S. Air Force
invested some effort in a paper study of a variety of spaceplane projects under their
Aerospaceplane
efforts of the late 1950s, but later reduced the scope of the project. The result, the
Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar
, was to have been the first orbital spaceplane, but was canceled in the early 1960s
[28]
[29]
in lieu of
NASA
's
Project Gemini
and the U.S. Air Force's
crewed spaceflight
program.
[
citation needed
]
In 1961, NASA originally planned to have the
Gemini spacecraft
land on a
runway
with a
Rogallo wing
airfoil
, rather than an
ocean landing
under
parachutes
.
[
citation needed
]
The test vehicle became known as the
Paraglider Research Vehicle
. Development work on both parachutes and the paraglider began in 1963.
By December 1963, the parachute was ready to undergo full-scale deployment testing, while the paraglider had run into technical difficulties.
Though attempts to revive the paraglider concept persisted within NASA and
North American Aviation
, in 1964 development was definitively discontinued due to the expense of overcoming the technical hurdles.
The Space Shuttle underwent
many variations
during its conceptual design phase. Some early concepts are illustrated.
The
Rockwell X-30
National Aero-Space Plane (NASP), begun in the 1980s, was an attempt to build a scramjet vehicle capable of operating like an aircraft and achieving orbit like the shuttle. Introduced to the public in 1986, the concept was intended to reach Mach 25, enabling flights between Dulles Airport to Tokyo in two hours, while also being capable of low Earth orbit.
[33]
Six critical technologies were identified, three relating to the propulsion system, which would consist of a hydrogen-fueled scramjet.
[33]
The NASP program became the Hypersonic Systems Technology Program (HySTP) in late 1994. HySTP was designed to transfer the accomplishments made in hypersonic flight into a technology development program. On 27 January 1995 the Air Force terminated participation in (HySTP).
[33]
In 1994, a USAF captain proposed an
F-16
sized
single-stage-to-orbit
peroxide/kerosene spaceplane called "
Black Horse
".
[34]
It was to take off almost empty and undergo
aerial refueling
before rocketing to orbit.
[35]
The
Lockheed Martin X-33
was a 1/3 scale prototype made as part of an attempt by NASA to build a SSTO hydrogen-fuelled spaceplane
VentureStar
that failed when the hydrogen tank design could not be constructed as intended.
[
citation needed
]
On 5 March 2006,
Aviation Week & Space Technology
published a story purporting to be the "outing" of a highly classified U.S. military
two-stage-to-orbit
spaceplane system with the code name
Blackstar
.
[36]
In 2011, Boeing proposed the X-37C, a 165 to 180 percent scale
X-37B
built to carry up to six passengers to
low Earth orbit
. The spaceplane was also intended to carry cargo, with both
upmass
and
downmass
capacity.
[37]
Soviet Union (1960s?1991)
[
edit
]
The Soviet reusable spacecraft programme has its roots in the late 1950s, at the very beginning of the space age. The idea of Soviet reusable space flight is very old, though it was neither continuous nor consistently organized. Before Buran, no project of the programme reached operational status.
The first step toward a reusable Soviet spacecraft was the 1954
Burya
, a high-altitude prototype jet aircraft/cruise missile. Several test flights were made before it was cancelled by order of the
Central Committee
. The
Burya
had the goal of delivering a nuclear payload, presumably to the United States, and then returning to base. The Burya programme was cancelled by the USSR in favor of a decision to develop
ICBMs
instead. The next iteration of a reusable spacecraft was the
Zvezda
design, which also reached a prototype stage. Decades later,
another project with the same name
would be used as a service module for the
International Space Station
. After Zvezda, there was a hiatus in reusable projects until Buran.
The Buran orbital vehicle programme was developed in response to the U.S. Space Shuttle program, which raised considerable concerns among the Soviet military and especially Defense Minister
Dmitry Ustinov
. An authoritative chronicler of the Soviet and later Russian space programme, the academic
Boris Chertok
, recounts how the programme came into being.
[38]
According to Chertok, after the U.S. developed its Space Shuttle program, the Soviet military became suspicious that it could be used for military purposes, due to its enormous payload, several times that of previous U.S. launch vehicles. Officially, the Buran orbital vehicle was designed for the delivery to orbit and return to Earth of spacecraft, cosmonauts, and supplies. Both Chertok and
Gleb Lozino-Lozinskiy
(General Designer and General Director of
NPO Molniya
) suggest that from the beginning, the programme was military in nature; however, the exact military capabilities, or intended capabilities, of the Buran programme remain classified.
Like its American counterpart, the Buran orbital vehicle, when in transit from its landing sites back to the launch complex, was transported on the back of a large jet aeroplane ? the
Antonov An-225 Mriya
transport aircraft, which was designed in part for this task and was the largest aircraft in the world to fly multiple times.
[39]
Before the
Mriya
was ready (after the Buran had flown), the
Myasishchev VM-T
Atlant
, a variant on the Soviet
Myasishchev M-4
Molot
(Hammer) bomber (NATO code: Bison), fulfilled the same role.
The
Soviet Union
first considered a preliminary design of rocket-launch small spaceplane Lapotok in early 1960s. The
Spiral
airspace system with small orbital spaceplane and rocket as second stage was developed in the 1960s?1980s.
[
citation needed
]
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105
was a crewed test vehicle to explore low-speed handling and landing.
[40]
Russia
[
edit
]
In the early 2000s the orbital 'cosmoplane' (
Russian
:
космоплан
) was proposed by Russia's Institute of Applied Mechanics as a passenger transport. According to researchers, it could take about 20 minutes to fly from
Moscow
to
Paris
, using hydrogen and oxygen-fueled engines.
[41]
[42]
United Kingdom
[
edit
]
The
Multi-Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device
(MUSTARD) was a concept explored by the
British
Aircraft Corporation (BAC) around 1968 for launching payloads weighing as much as 2,300 kg (5,000 lb) into orbit. It was never constructed.
[43]
In the 1980s,
British Aerospace
began development of
HOTOL
, an SSTO spaceplane powered by a revolutionary
SABRE
air-breathing rocket engine, but the project was canceled due to technical and financial uncertainties.
[44]
The inventor of SABRE set up
Reaction Engines
to develop SABRE and proposed a twin-engined SSTO spaceplane called
Skylon
.
[45]
One NASA analysis showed possible issues with the hot rocket exhaust plumes causing heating of the tail structure at high Mach numbers.
[46]
although the CEO of Skylon Enterprises Ltd has claimed that reviews by NASA were "quite positive".
[47]
Bristol Spaceplanes
has undertaken design and prototyping of three potential spaceplanes since its founding by David Ashford in 1991. The
European Space Agency
has endorsed these designs on several occasions.
[48]
European Space Agency (1985?)
[
edit
]
France
worked on the
Hermes
crewed spaceplane launched by
Ariane rocket
in the late 20th century, and proposed in January 1985 to go through with Hermes development under the auspices of the ESA.
[49]
In the 1980s, West Germany funded design work on the
MBB Sanger II
with the Hypersonic Technology Program. Development continued on MBB/Deutsche Aerospace Sanger II/HORUS until the late 1980s when it was canceled. Germany went on to participate in the Ariane rocket, Columbus space station and Hermes spaceplane of
ESA
,
Spacelab
of ESA-NASA and
Deutschland
missions (non-U.S. funded Space Shuttle flights with Spacelab). The Sanger II had predicted cost savings of up to 30 percent over expendable rockets.
[50]
[51]
Hopper
was one of several proposals for a European reusable launch vehicle (RLV) planned to cheaply ferry satellites into orbit by 2015.
[52]
One of those was 'Phoenix', a German project which is a one-seventh scale model of the Hopper concept vehicle.
[53]
The suborbital Hopper was a Future European Space Transportation Investigations Programme system study design
[54]
A test project, the
Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle
(IXV), has demonstrated lifting reentry technologies and will be extended under the
PRIDE programme
.
[55]
Japan
[
edit
]
HOPE
was a Japanese experimental spaceplane project designed by a partnership between
NASDA
and
NAL
(both now part of
JAXA
), started in the 1980s. It was positioned for most of its lifetime as one of the main Japanese contributions to the
International Space Station
, the other being the
Japanese Experiment Module
. The project was eventually cancelled in 2003, by which point test flights of a sub-scale testbed had flown successfully.
[
citation needed
]
India
[
edit
]
AVATAR
(Aerobic Vehicle for Hypersonic Aerospace Transportation;
Sanskrit
:
?????
) was a concept study for an
uncrewed
single-stage
reusable
spaceplane capable of
horizontal takeoff and landing
, presented to India's
Defence Research and Development Organisation
. The mission concept was for low cost military and commercial satellite launches.
[56]
[57]
[58]
Current development programs
[
edit
]
China
[
edit
]
Shenlong (
Chinese
:
神?
;
pinyin
:
shen long
;
lit.
'divine dragon') is a proposed Chinese robotic spaceplane that is similar to the
Boeing X-37
.
[59]
Only a few images have been released since late 2007.
[60]
[61]
[62]
European Union
[
edit
]
A test project, the
Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle
(IXV), has demonstrated lifting reentry technologies and will be extended under the
PRIDE programme
.
[55]
The
FAST20XX
Future High-Altitude High Speed Transport 20XX aims to establish sound technological foundations for the introduction of advanced concepts in suborbital high-speed transportation with air-launch-to-orbit ALPHA vehicle.
[63]
The Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace RLV is a small reusable spaceplane prototype for the ESA
Future Launchers Preparatory Programme
/FLTP program.
SpaceLiner
is the most recent project.
[
citation needed
]
The
Space Rider
(Space Reusable Integrated Demonstrator for Europe Return) is a planned
uncrewed
orbital
lifting body
spaceplane aiming to provide the
European Space Agency
(ESA) with affordable and routine access to space.
[64]
[65]
[66]
Contracts for construction of the vehicle and ground infrastructure were signed in December 2020.
[67]
Its
maiden flight
is currently scheduled for the third quarter of 2025.
[68]
Development of Space Rider is being led by the Italian
Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator in Europe
(PRIDE programme) in collaboration with ESA, and is the continuation of the
Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle
(IXV) experience,
[69]
[70]
launched on 11 February 2015. The cost of this phase, not including the launcher, is at least US$36.7 million.
[71]
At the ESA Ministerial Council held in Seville in November 2019, the development of the Space Rider was subscribed by the participating member states with an allocation of €195.73 million.
[72]
India
[
edit
]
As of 2016
[update]
, the
Indian Space Research Organisation
is developing a launch system named the
Reusable Launch Vehicle
(RLV). It is India's first step towards realizing a
two-stage-to-orbit
reusable launch system
. A space plane serves as the second stage. The plane is expected to have air-breathing
scramjet
engines as well as rocket engines. Tests with miniature spaceplanes and a working scramjet have been conducted by ISRO in 2016.
[73]
In April 2023, India successfully conducted an
autonomous landing mission of a scaled-down prototype
of the spaceplane.
[74]
The RLV prototype was dropped from a
Chinook
helicopter at an altitude of 4.5 kms and was made to autonomously glide down to a purpose-built runway at the
Chitradurga Aeronautical Test Range
, Karnataka.
[75]
Japan
[
edit
]
As of 2018, Japan is developing the
Winged Reusable Sounding rocket
(WIRES), which if successful, may be used as a recoverable first-stage or as a crewed sub-orbital spaceplane.
[76]
International
[
edit
]
The Dawn Mk-II Aurora is a suborbital spaceplane being developed by
Dawn Aerospace
to demonstrate multiple suborbital flights per day. Dawn is based in the Netherlands and New Zealand, and is working closely with the American CAA. On December 9, 2020, the
Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
, working alongside the
New Zealand Space Agency
, issued a license allowing the vehicle to fly from a conventional airport.
[80]
On August 25, 2021, the first test-flight campaign of five successful flights using surrogate jet engines was announced.
[81]
As of August 15, 2022, 35 test flights have been complete, validating the vehicles aerodynamics, avionics, rapid deployment and various piloting modes.
[82]
A qualified 2.5 kN.s pump-fed HTP/kerosene engine is being installed for high-performance high-altitude flights. Dawn Aerospace previously demonstrated multiple low-altitude rocket-powered flights per day on their Mk-I vehicle.
[83]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
In 2018,
SpaceShipTwo
passed the US definition of space of 80km, but not the 100km Karman line.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Chang, Kenneth (20 October 2014).
"25 Years Ago, NASA Envisioned Its Own 'Orient Express'
"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
21 October
2014
.
- ^
Piesing, Mark (22 January 2021).
"Spaceplanes: The return of the reusable spacecraft?"
.
BBC
. Retrieved
15 February
2021
.
- ^
"Orbiter Thermal Protection System"
. NASA/Kennedy Space Center. 1989. Archived from
the original
on 9 September 2006.
- ^
Launius, Roger D. (1969).
"Space Task Group Report, 1969"
. NASA.
Archived
from the original on 14 January 2016
. Retrieved
22 March
2020
.
- ^
Malik, Tarik (21 July 2011).
"NASA's Space Shuttle By the Numbers: 30 Years of a Spaceflight Icon"
. Space.com.
Archived
from the original on 16 October 2015
. Retrieved
18 June
2014
.
- ^
Smith, Yvette (1 June 2020).
"Demo-2: Launching Into History"
.
NASA
.
Archived
from the original on 21 February 2021
. Retrieved
18 February
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Bibliography
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