Space shuttle for space tourism and first stage of a TSTO.
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From: Pat Flannery on 6 Jan 2010 03:35 David Spain wrote: > And no SRB's? > > BTW, unless Vandenberg can be recomissioned with minimal $$$, how does this > help the Air Force? Seems like a pricey option as far as ground support > goes as opposed to flying ELVs in the orbits most favored. Maybe it's supposed to fly off of a runway? Pat
From: Pat Flannery on 6 Jan 2010 03:49 David Spain wrote: >> As far as a hypersonic transport you'd need > 3 orbiters or a crew >> compartment capable of flying > 7 people, unless they're riding in >> a can atop the thing. > > Oops, I meant *next to* the thing... Now picture a SR-71...now picture a SR-71 with a SRB strapped to its back, a big LOX tank attached under either of its engine nacelles, and a SSME converted to LOX/JP-7 in its tail...now picture that riding on a giant take-off trolley, with a trained Chimpanzee in the cockpit...but not just any Chimpanzee...a Chimpanzee that has been genetically modified with Bald Eagle DNA to give it an intuitive ability to understand flight... ;-) Pat
From: Robert Clark on 6 Jan 2010 08:56 On Jan 6, 3:02 am, Pat Flannery <flan...(a)daktel.com> wrote: .... > I can't for the life of me figure out why Robert Clark is constantly > coming up with ideas for so radically modifying something that already > exists that it effectively becomes a entirely different spacecraft, but > without the advantages that a whole new design would offer. > > Pat The $42 million costs for the basic spacecraft is significantly less than the $150 million development cost of the Whiteknight2 and SpaceShipTwo: Sales are rocketing at Virgin Galactic. http://www.virgingalactic.org/2008/04/sales-are-rocke.html and the result would be a vehicle that could do significantly more than the Virgin Galactic system. It could act as a suborbital space tourism vehicle, but it also could act as a very high speed point-to- point transport system. Imagine a cross-Atlantic trip instead of taking 6 hours only took 1/2 hour. Or a cross country trip instead of taking 5 hours only took 20 minutes. Moreover, it could also serve as the reusable first stage of a TSTO. I'm arguing it could be used to reduce the costs to space if used as a reusable first stage booster for a TSTO system. The Air Force for instance believes such a TSTO could cut launch costs by 50%. The Russian engines that would need to be added would be relatively low cost. According to this page, in the mid 90's Aerojet purchased 36 of them from the Russians for only $1.1 million each(!): NK-33. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NK-33#History Installation of the lox/kerosene tanks and modifications to strengthen the body frame to carry the extra loads would also be relatively low cost. The 68,600 kg empty weight of the orbiter sans engines could probably be reduced also. The main system that could probably be removed would be the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS). This is used for final orbital insertion of the shuttle and changes of its orbit. This wouldn't be needed for a first stage vehicle or a suborbital vehicle. I don't trust the value given for the OMS weight however on the Atlantis Astronautix page. It says this: Main Engine: OME. Main Engine: 14,912 kg (32,875 lb). Main Engine Thrust: 53.367 kN (11,997 lbf). Main Engine Propellants: N2O4/MMH. Main Engine Propellants: 12,412 kg (27,363 lb). Main Engine Isp: 316 sec. Spacecraft delta v: 700 m/s (2,290 ft/sec). The OME refers to the OMS engine. The engine does not weigh 14,912 kg. Perhaps they are referring to the entire OMS system, both pods. That seems unlikely as well, unless they are including the propellant weight. In any case it's this OMS system weight that I'm trying to find out to subtract off. Bob Clark
From: David Spain on 6 Jan 2010 09:47 Pat Flannery <flanner(a)daktel.com> writes: > take-off trolley, with a trained Chimpanzee in the cockpit...but not just any > Chimpanzee...a Chimpanzee that has been genetically modified with Bald Eagle > DNA to give it an intuitive ability to understand flight... ;-) Is that Chimpanzee over-caffinated too? :-) Dave
From: Jeff Findley on 6 Jan 2010 11:12
"Pat Flannery" <flanner(a)daktel.com> wrote in message news:X_GdnUlUu5jmutnWnZ2dnUVZ_uidnZ2d(a)posted.northdakotatelephone... > I can't for the life of me figure out why Robert Clark is constantly > coming up with ideas for so radically modifying something that already > exists that it effectively becomes a entirely different spacecraft, but > without the advantages that a whole new design would offer. I don't know, but I solved the problem long ago by putting him in my killfile. Jeff -- "Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog is finally getting enough cheese" - Deteriorata - National Lampoon |