[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: starship-design: Re: X15 space plane
Thanks, Kelly, for a marvelous illustration of how far we haven't progressed from such promising beginnings. I see this kind of thing a lot; the other day I saw a Studebaker Avanti on the street, and I think those had some features that are still ahead of our time (though I can't recall what those were, sorry). Think about this, though --
a 747, (or any modern jet) rebuilt for the rigors of reentry. It's cabin is already capable of withstanding vacuum; we just need to reshape the wings and give it appropriate engines. I don't know if you could make it fly from ground to orbit, but with that kind of capacity, who cares? Stick some boosters on it and save the in-flight meal for after the movie. The thing I'm pointing up here is how much of the needed stuff we already have in everyday use.
what think ye?
keep looking up,
Curtis
KellySt@aol.com wrote:
OK, I'm losing it. I heard one to many folks involved with NASA new OSP
(Orbital Space Plane - a program to build a winged manned upper stage craft to
taxi people to orbit -- effectively the space station) program, state
emphatically that it was impossible. One winner Prof from Florida stated that it would
take 15-20 years to develop the technology to build space planes.
Much of the statements are pretty blatantly misleading, other ridiculously
uninformed.
Just to calculate how BAD NASA is doing with its assumption that a winged
space plane could not be developed, I decided to go back a half century and
see what a X-15 could do.
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/x15a.htm
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software