DailyDirt: I'm Leavin' On A Space Plane, Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again....
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
NASA's space shuttle program is winding down, but it seems like there's some growing interest in going to space. SpaceShipOne won the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004, and even though it only touches the edge of space, it's still a pretty remarkable achievement. But it's about 6 years later, and trips to space aren't exactly tickets you can buy on Orbitz (or Priceline or Expedia, etc). Here are a few interesting links on space travel and traveling in the future (not *to* the future).- According to WikiLeaks, Turkey apparently tried to get a Turkish astronaut on the space shuttle -- in exchange for buying some Boeing planes. Is having a national astronaut really that prestigious? International politics shouldn't be like winning Civ and getting to Alpha Centauri.... [url]
- Orbital Sciences Corp has proposed a space plane to replace NASA's shuttle for ferrying people and stuff to the ISS. Space plane versus capsule designs... I'd bet the capsules will win, but there's no denying the coolness factor of a winged spaceship. [url]
- In 2013, Russia is going to start selling space tourism tickets again. A 10-day trip to space for over $35M... "We could buy our own ship for that! But who's gonna fly it kid... you?" [url]
- NASA is also looking at some regular plane designs to make flying more efficient in 2025. Space is probably over-rated, anyway. [url]
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Filed Under: iss, nasa, space shuttle, spaceshipone
Companies: boeing, orbital sciences corporation
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Capsule AND Wings
The advantage of a capsule is that you don't have to protect wings during flight phases that don't use wings, such as ascent, orbiting, reentry, etc., i.e. everything but the last bit of the return after reentry.
The advantage of wings is that you can guide the return.
My solution: Paragliding. Keep the paraglide chute stowed until after reentry, and then guide the return. The advantages of both.
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Re: Capsule AND Wings
Perhaps there's a way to "catch" a capsule as it's floating down -- like a reverse WhiteKnight design from SpaceShipOne.
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Re: Re: Capsule AND Wings
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Someday Perhaps...
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Winged Space Planes
In the end, this capability has never been used.
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Muslims in space
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