The Little Spaceplane That Couldn't (2008)(space-travel.com) |
The Little Spaceplane That Couldn't (2008)(space-travel.com) |
Some cool tech was there. They got so far with it as well — search for it on YouTube and you can find videos of various aspects of research that went into it. [1..6]
I like the landing skids that used the stretching of metal as the means to adsorb the shock of landing - reminds me somewhat of the metal honeycomb that collapsed to adsorb the lunar module landing on the moon.
I believe water circulated through the skin of the craft near the astronaut compartment to take heat away during reentry.
I recall that the nose of the craft was made of a rather interesting material. That may've been shared with the X-15 as well.
Enough blueprints too are available for the craft-that-never-flew that I enjoyed creating a kind of balsa-kit-that-never-existed. [7] A very pretty plane it was/wasnt.
[1] https://youtu.be/TkWg4dd7e8w
[2] https://youtu.be/8Bn5A0oNpuM
[3] https://youtu.be/drfcrl_vc8M
[4] https://youtu.be/muNYhj9DFrM
[5] https://youtu.be/TikodTMGdP0
Dream Chaser is an American reusable lifting-body spaceplane being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems. Originally intended as a crewed vehicle, the Dream Chaser Space System is set to be produced after the cargo variant, Dream Chaser Cargo System, is operational.
The Dream Chaser design is derived from NASA's HL-20 Personnel Launch System spaceplane concept, which in turn is descended from a series of test vehicles, including the X-20 Dyna-Soar, Northrop M2-F2, Northrop M2-F3, Northrop HL-10, Martin X-24A and X-24B, and Martin X-23 PRIME.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Chaser
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.
Apparently they park it in orbit instead of a hangar to make it look as if it is actually "on a mission".
In political jargon, a self-licking ice cream cone is a self-perpetuating system that has no purpose other than to sustain itself. The phrase appeared to have been first used in 1991–1992, in a book about Gulf War weapons systems by Norman Friedman, and On Self-Licking Ice Cream Cones, a paper by Pete Worden about NASA's bureaucracy, to describe the relationship between the Space Shuttle and Space Station.
But he's not wrong.
I don't care about the other planes on the list, but the B-70 Valkyrie absolutely deserves to be a cult plane.
It is one of the most visually striking and beautiful planes ever built. Combine that with an absolutely insane performance characteristics and engineering, and you can see why it is a cult plane.
Its flight performance is quite impressive (32 minutes of sustained Mach 3), but as a theoretical bomber, it leaves a lot to be desired.
(German: Da war der Lack ab!)
But those that never get into production often have less compromise in some areas, and that is probably a large factor in why they become cult planes.
Make no mistake, a lunar space station, no matter its name, is not a gateway to anywhere. The only defensible place to pause on the way from low earth orbit to anywhere else in the solar system is high earth orbit. Stopping at high lunar orbit is pure cost, no benefit.
It might be useful to park spare fuel in low lunar orbit for a moon landing, but there is no value in a space station there.
But against that, they should have 50 of these, if they are really as useful as implied: if not, why isn't the one in orbit suspiciously failing in service? I really don't beleive there is asymmetry in capability to mess with orbital devices here.
If it is just changing orbit while up there, it doesn't need reusability. Just launch another one.
Also, the fact that the secret satellite stuff is in the payload bay with doors that can close is likely very desirable when a Russian or Chinese nosey satellite matches orbit. And once that does happen, the ability to move to another orbit is on tap as well.
I'd say that the fact China has launched their own nearly identical copy is evidence that the X37 is not useless, but China copying someone's space thing is just another day ending in y and not actual evidence of anything except their copying prowess.
That aside I'm really fasicinated by those fast planes. I mean, it's now public knowledge that the SR-71 leaked fuel between gaps in the fuselage onto the tarmac. Because of that they only fueled it up a little to get into the air without leaking too much.
Then after take off, speeding up until the thermal expansion closed those gaps, and full aerial refueling directly after that.
How did they solve that with the Valkyrie I wonder? Did similar things occur there, or were of no concern because of different materials, dimensions, make, etc.?
Edit: > my dictionary claims it's colloquial...
Not more so than The front fell off! :-)
I doubt that the fuel served this dual-purpose on the XB-70, and exotic coolant might not have been needed for <30 minutes at Mach 3 anyways.