In physics , cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures .
78-691: The Lockheed Martin X-33 was a proposed uncrewed, sub-scale technology demonstrator suborbital spaceplane that was developed for a period in the 1990s. The X-33 was a technology demonstrator for the VentureStar orbital spaceplane, which was planned to be a next-generation, commercially operated reusable launch vehicle . The X-33 would flight-test a range of technologies that NASA believed it needed for single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicles (SSTO RLVs), such as metallic thermal protection systems , composite cryogenic fuel tanks for liquid hydrogen ,
156-594: 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
234-637: A cryogenic fuel system, known as the Tu-155 . The plane uses a fuel referred to as liquefied natural gas or LNG, and made its first flight in 1989. Some applications of cryogenics: Cryogenic cooling of devices and material is usually achieved via the use of liquid nitrogen , liquid helium , or a mechanical cryocooler (which uses high-pressure helium lines). Gifford-McMahon cryocoolers, pulse tube cryocoolers and Stirling cryocoolers are in wide use with selection based on required base temperature and cooling capacity. The most recent development in cryogenics
312-926: A design using liquid oxygen/hydrogen bell engines based on its vertical takeoff and landing DC-XA test vehicle. It would have used a single SSME for the main propulsion system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= Suborbital spaceplane 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 . 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 as of 2024 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 :
390-589: A hydrogen-fueled scramjet. 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). In 1994, a USAF captain proposed an F-16 sized single-stage-to-orbit peroxide/kerosene spaceplane called " Black Horse ". It
468-447: A liquid-hydrogen tank made of carbon-fiber composite material that had demonstrated the ability for repeated fuelings and simulated launch cycles. Northrop Grumman concluded that these successful tests have enabled the development and refinement of new manufacturing processes that will allow the company to build large composite tanks without an autoclave ; and design and engineering development of conformal fuel tanks appropriate for use on
546-403: A low temperature environment. The freezing of foods and biotechnology products, like vaccines , requires nitrogen in blast freezing or immersion freezing systems. Certain soft or elastic materials become hard and brittle at very low temperatures, which makes cryogenic milling ( cryomilling ) an option for some materials that cannot easily be milled at higher temperatures. Cryogenic processing
624-688: 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. AVATAR (Aerobic Vehicle for Hypersonic Aerospace Transportation; Sanskrit : अवतार )
702-575: A purpose-built runway at the Chitradurga Aeronautical Test Range , Karnataka. Cryogenics The 13th International Institute of Refrigeration 's (IIR) International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of "cryogenics" and "cryogenic" by accepting a threshold of 120 K (−153 °C) to distinguish these terms from conventional refrigeration. This
780-463: A simple cylindrical composite cryogenic hydrogen tank as part of early work for the Constellation program . Through the use of the lifting body shape, composite multi-lobed liquid fuel tanks, and the aerospike engine, NASA and Lockheed Martin hoped to test fly a craft that would demonstrate the viability of a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) design. A spacecraft capable of reaching orbit in
858-589: A single stage would not require external fuel tanks or boosters to reach low Earth orbit . Doing away with the need for "staging" with launch vehicles, such as with the Shuttle and the Apollo rockets, would lead to an inherently more reliable and safer space launch vehicle. While the X-33 would not approach airplane-like safety, the X-33 would attempt to demonstrate 0.997 reliability, or 3 mishaps out of 1,000 launches, which would be an order of magnitude more reliable than
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#1732787162214936-497: A single success after a string of failures as recently as 2009 using a 2-meter scale model. In 1994 NASA initiated the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) program. After a Phase I programme developing proposals from Rockwell International , McDonnell Douglas , and Lockheed Martin, a Phase II contract to develop the X-33 as a demonstrator vehicle was awarded to Lockheed Martin in 1996. At the same time Orbital Sciences
1014-543: A single-stage-to-orbit vehicle. Five companies expressed interest and proposed concepts. Of those five Lockheed Martin, Rockwell and McDonnell Douglas were selected for workup into more detailed proposals. Rockwell proposed a Space Shuttle -derived design. It would have used one Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) and two RL-10 -5A engines. In a subsequent full-scale system to reach orbit Rockwell planned to use six Rocketdyne RS-2100 engines. McDonnell Douglas featured
1092-760: 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 . Orbital spacecraft reentering
1170-769: 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. Download coordinates as: The Buran programme ( Russian : Буран , IPA: [bʊˈran] , "Snowstorm", "Blizzard"), also known as
1248-669: A spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office , in collaboration with United States Space Force , 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,
1326-722: 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
1404-571: A twin-engined SSTO spaceplane called Skylon . One NASA analysis showed possible issues with the hot rocket exhaust plumes causing heating of the tail structure at high Mach numbers. although the CEO of Skylon Enterprises Ltd has claimed that reviews by NASA were "quite positive". 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. France worked on
1482-462: A vehicle that takes days, not months, to turn around; dozens, not thousands, of people to operate; with launch costs that are a tenth of what they are now. Our goal is a reusable launch vehicle that will cut the cost of getting a pound of payload to orbit from $ 10,000 to $ 1,000. The program was cancelled in February 2001. Construction of the prototype was some 85% assembled with 96% of the parts and
1560-456: Is a logical dividing line, since the normal boiling points of the so-called permanent gases (such as helium , hydrogen , neon , nitrogen , oxygen , and normal air ) lie below 120 K, while the Freon refrigerants, hydrocarbons , and other common refrigerants have boiling points above 120 K. Discovery of superconducting materials with critical temperatures significantly above
1638-591: Is a small reusable spaceplane prototype for the ESA Future Launchers Preparatory Programme /FLTP program. SpaceLiner is the most recent project. 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. Contracts for construction of
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#17327871622141716-487: Is even more widely used but as an oxidizer , not a fuel. NASA 's workhorse Space Shuttle used cryogenic hydrogen/oxygen propellant as its primary means of getting into orbit . LOX is also widely used with RP-1 kerosene, a non-cryogenic hydrocarbon, such as in the rockets built for the Soviet space program by Sergei Korolev . Russian aircraft manufacturer Tupolev developed a version of its popular design Tu-154 with
1794-424: 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. In April 2023, India successfully conducted an autonomous landing mission of a scaled-down prototype of the spaceplane. The RLV prototype was dropped from a Chinook helicopter at an altitude of 4.5 kms and was made to autonomously glide down to
1872-647: Is legally purchasable around the world. Liquid helium is also commonly used and allows for the lowest attainable temperatures to be reached. These liquids may be stored in Dewar flasks , which are double-walled containers with a high vacuum between the walls to reduce heat transfer into the liquid. Typical laboratory Dewar flasks are spherical, made of glass and protected in a metal outer container. Dewar flasks for extremely cold liquids such as liquid helium have another double-walled container filled with liquid nitrogen. Dewar flasks are named after their inventor, James Dewar ,
1950-478: Is not a substitute for heat treatment, but rather an extension of the heating–quenching–tempering cycle. Normally, when an item is quenched, the final temperature is ambient. The only reason for this is that most heat treaters do not have cooling equipment. There is nothing metallurgically significant about ambient temperature. The cryogenic process continues this action from ambient temperature down to −320 °F (140 °R; 78 K; −196 °C). In most instances
2028-605: Is shed as heat during re-entry . 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 Kármán line : the X-15 and SpaceShipOne . Spaceplanes must operate in space, like traditional spacecraft , but also must be capable of atmospheric flight, like an aircraft . These requirements drive up
2106-694: Is similar to the Boeing X-37 . Only a few images have been released since late 2007. A test project, the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), has demonstrated lifting reentry technologies and will be extended under the PRIDE programme . 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. The Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace RLV
2184-445: Is the new spacecraft of Virgin Galactic , launched on 30 March 2021. It is also known as VSS Imagine . 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
2262-737: 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. In the 1980s, West Germany funded design work on the MBB Sänger II with the Hypersonic Technology Program. Development continued on MBB/Deutsche Aerospace Sänger II/HORUS until the late 1980s when it was canceled. Germany went on to participate in
2340-986: The Space Shuttle . The 15 planned experimental X-33 flights could only begin this statistical evaluation. The uncrewed craft would have been launched vertically from a specially designed facility constructed on Edwards Air Force Base, and landed horizontally ( VTHL ) on a runway at the end of its mission. Initial sub-orbital test flights were planned from Edwards AFB to Dugway Proving Grounds southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah . Once those test flights were completed, further flight tests were to be conducted from Edwards AFB to Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, Montana , to gather more complete data on aircraft heating and engine performance at higher speeds and altitudes. On July 2, 1996, NASA selected Lockheed Martin Skunk Works of Palmdale, California , to design, build, and test
2418-413: The aerospike engine , autonomous (uncrewed) flight control, rapid flight turn-around times through streamlined operations, and its lifting body aerodynamics . Failures of its 21-meter wingspan and multi-lobed, composite-material fuel tank during pressure testing ultimately led to the withdrawal of federal support for the program in early 2001. Lockheed Martin has conducted unrelated testing, and has had
Lockheed Martin X-33 - Misplaced Pages Continue
2496-461: The launch facility 100% complete when the program was canceled by NASA in 2001, after a long series of technical difficulties including flight instability and excess weight . In particular, the composite liquid hydrogen fuel tank failed during testing in November 1999. The tank was constructed of honeycomb composite walls and internal structures to reduce its weight. A lighter tank was needed for
2574-551: The "VKK Space Orbiter programme" ( Russian : ВКК «Воздушно-Космический Корабль» , lit. 'Air and Space Ship'), 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. In addition to being the designation for the whole Soviet/Russian reusable spacecraft project, Buran
2652-458: The "outing" of a highly classified U.S. military two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane system with the code name Blackstar . 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. The Soviet reusable spacecraft programme has its roots in
2730-422: 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. Six critical technologies were identified, three relating to the propulsion system, which would consist of
2808-474: 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 Sänger II had predicted cost savings of up to 30 percent over expendable rockets. Hopper was one of several proposals for a European reusable launch vehicle (RLV) planned to cheaply ferry satellites into orbit by 2015. One of those
2886-521: 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
2964-455: 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. Suborbital spaceplanes fly lower energy trajectories that do not put as much stress on
3042-525: 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 the 1969 plan led by U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development. 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
3120-653: The U.S. Space Shuttle , Russian Buran , U.S. X-37 , and the Chinese Shenlong . Another, Dream Chaser , is under development in the U.S. As of 2024 all past and current orbital spaceplanes launch vertically ; some are carried as a payload in a conventional fairing, while the Space Shuttle used its own engines with the assistance of boosters and an external tank. Orbital spaceflight takes place at high velocities, with orbital kinetic energies typically greater than suborbital trajectories. This kinetic energy
3198-493: The X-33 experimental vehicle for the RLV program. Lockheed Martin's design concept for the X-33 was selected over competing concepts from Rockwell International and McDonnell Douglas . Rockwell proposed a Space Shuttle -derived design, and McDonnell Douglas proposed a design based on its vertical takeoff and landing ( VTVL ) DC-XA test vehicle. The uncrewed X-33 was slated to fly 15 suborbital hops to near 75.8 km altitude. It
Lockheed Martin X-33 - Misplaced Pages Continue
3276-452: The ability to reach a temperature of 2 K. These first superconductive properties were observed in mercury at a temperature of 4.2 K. Cryogenicists use the Kelvin or Rankine temperature scale, both of which measure from absolute zero , rather than more usual scales such as Celsius which measures from the freezing point of water at sea level or Fahrenheit which measures from
3354-672: The academic Boris Chertok , recounts how the programme came into being. 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
3432-427: 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 . The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by
3510-426: The beginning, the programme was military in nature; however, the exact military capabilities, or intended capabilities, of the Buran programme remain classified. 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. Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105
3588-488: The boiling point of nitrogen has provided new interest in reliable, low-cost methods of producing high-temperature cryogenic refrigeration. The term "high temperature cryogenic" describes temperatures ranging from above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen, −195.79 °C (77.36 K; −320.42 °F), up to −50 °C (223 K; −58 °F). The discovery of superconductive properties is first attributed to Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on July 10, 1908. The discovery came after
3666-549: The commercial cryogenic processing industry was founded in 1966 by Bill and Ed Busch. With a background in the heat treating industry, the Busch brothers founded a company in Detroit called CryoTech in 1966. Busch originally experimented with the possibility of increasing the life of metal tools to anywhere between 200% and 400% of the original life expectancy using cryogenic tempering instead of heat treating . This evolved in
3744-495: The complexity, risk, dry mass, and cost of spaceplane designs. The following sections will draw heavily on the US Space Shuttle as the biggest, most complex, most expensive, most flown, and only crewed orbital spaceplane, but other designs have been successfully flown. The flight trajectory required to reach orbit results in significant aerodynamic loads, vibrations, and accelerations, all of which have to be withstood by
3822-408: The craft to demonstrate necessary technologies for single-stage-to-orbit operations. A hydrogen fueled SSTO craft's mass fraction requires that the weight of the vehicle without fuel be 10% of the fully fueled weight. This would allow a vehicle to fly to low Earth orbit without the need for the sort of external boosters and fuel tanks used by the Space Shuttle. But, after the composite tank failed on
3900-441: The cryogenic cycle is followed by a heat tempering procedure. As all alloys do not have the same chemical constituents, the tempering procedure varies according to the material's chemical composition, thermal history and/or a tool's particular service application. The entire process takes 3–4 days. Another use of cryogenics is cryogenic fuels for rockets with liquid hydrogen as the most widely used example. Liquid oxygen (LOX)
3978-421: The freezing point of a particular brine solution at sea level. The word cryogenics stems from Greek κρύος (cryos) – "cold" + γενής (genis) – "generating". Cryogenic fluids with their boiling point in Kelvin and degree Celsius. Liquefied gases , such as liquid nitrogen and liquid helium , are used in many cryogenic applications. Liquid nitrogen is the most commonly used element in cryogenics and
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#17327871622144056-411: 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
4134-422: The late 1990s into the treatment of other parts. Cryogens, such as liquid nitrogen , are further used for specialty chilling and freezing applications. Some chemical reactions, like those used to produce the active ingredients for the popular statin drugs, must occur at low temperatures of approximately −100 °C (−148 °F). Special cryogenic chemical reactors are used to remove reaction heat and provide
4212-615: The man who first liquefied hydrogen . Thermos bottles are smaller vacuum flasks fitted in a protective casing. Cryogenic barcode labels are used to mark Dewar flasks containing these liquids, and will not frost over down to −195 degrees Celsius. Cryogenic transfer pumps are the pumps used on LNG piers to transfer liquefied natural gas from LNG carriers to LNG storage tanks , as are cryogenic valves. The field of cryogenics advanced during World War II when scientists found that metals frozen to low temperatures showed more resistance to wear. Based on this theory of cryogenic hardening ,
4290-621: 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
4368-543: 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. 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 ,
4446-478: The program was managed by Air Force Space Command . 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
4524-497: The project before cancellation, and Lockheed Martin a further $ 357 million. Due to changes in the space launch business—including the challenges faced by companies such as Globalstar , Teledesic , and Iridium and the resulting drop in the anticipated number of commercial satellite launches per year, Lockheed Martin concluded that continuing development of the X-33 privately without government support would not be profitable. In 2004 Northrop Grumman successfully built and tested
4602-489: The results to a proposed orbital vehicle. The decision to design and build the X-33 grew out of an internal NASA study titled "Access to Space". Unlike other space transport studies, "Access to Space" was to result in the design and construction of a vehicle. Based on the X-33 experience shared with NASA, Lockheed Martin hoped to make the business case for a full-scale SSTO RLV, called VentureStar , that would be developed and operated through commercial means. The intention
4680-441: 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,
4758-411: The spacecraft thermal protection system. The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was the direct result of a TPS failure. Aerodynamic control surfaces must be actuated . Landing gear must be included at the cost of additional mass. 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
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#17327871622144836-481: The test stand during fueling and pressure tests, NASA came to the conclusion that the technology of the time was simply not advanced enough for such a design. While the composite tank walls themselves were lighter, the hydrogen tank shape necessary to fit inside the aerodynamic mouldline resulted in complex joints increasing the total mass of the composite tank to above that of an aluminum-based tank, and too heavy for an SSTO vehicle. NASA had invested $ 922 million in
4914-637: The vehicle and ground infrastructure were signed in December 2020. Its maiden flight is currently scheduled for the third quarter of 2025. As of 2012 , 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
4992-508: The vehicle structure. 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. Once on-orbit,
5070-492: Was 'Phoenix', a German project which is a one-seventh scale model of the Hopper concept vehicle. The suborbital Hopper was a Future European Space Transportation Investigations Programme system study design A test project, the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), has demonstrated lifting reentry technologies and will be extended under the PRIDE programme . HOPE was a Japanese experimental spaceplane project designed by
5148-519: Was 1,323 days. 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
5226-575: 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. 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. The inventor of SABRE set up Reaction Engines to develop SABRE and proposed
5304-418: 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. Shenlong ( Chinese : 神龙 ; pinyin : shén lóng ; lit. 'divine dragon') is a proposed Chinese robotic spaceplane that
5382-421: Was a crewed test vehicle to explore low-speed handling and landing. 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. The Multi-Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device (MUSTARD)
5460-511: Was a miniaturized suborbital demonstrator launched in 1996, flying to 110 km altitude, achieving hypersonic flight , and successfully reentering the atmosphere . 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
5538-515: 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 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
5616-468: Was awarded a contract to develop the X-34 , an air-launched hypersonic research vehicle. The goals of the RLV program were: $ 1 billion was spent through 1999 with about 80 percent coming from NASA and additional money contributed by the industry partners. The goal was to have a first flight by March 1999, and to have the VentureStar , the operational reusable space vehicle, flying in 2006. .. to build
5694-643: 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
5772-455: Was that rather than operate space transport systems as it has with the Space Shuttle , NASA would instead look to private industry to operate the reusable launch vehicle and NASA would purchase launch services from the commercial launch provider. Thus, the X-33 was not only about honing space flight technologies, but also about successfully demonstrating the technology required to make a commercial reusable launch vehicle possible. The VentureStar
5850-441: Was to be launched upright like a rocket and rather than having a straight flight path it would fly diagonally up for half the flight, reaching extremely high altitudes, and then for the rest of the flight glide back down to a runway. The X-33 was never intended to fly higher than an altitude of 100 km, nor faster than one-half of orbital velocity. Had any successful tests occurred, extrapolation would have been necessary to apply
5928-522: Was to be the first commercial aircraft to fly into space. The VentureStar was intended for long inter-continental flights and supposed to be in service by 2012, but this project was never funded or begun. General characteristics Performance After the cancellation in 2001, engineers were able to make a working liquid-oxygen tank from carbon-fiber composite. Tests showed that composites were feasible materials for liquid-oxygen tanks On September 7, 2004, Northrop Grumman and NASA engineers unveiled
6006-589: Was to have been the first orbital spaceplane, but was canceled in the early 1960s in lieu of NASA 's Project Gemini and the U.S. Air Force's crewed spaceflight program. 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 . The test vehicle became known as the Paraglider Research Vehicle . Development work on both parachutes and
6084-409: Was to take off almost empty and undergo aerial refueling before rocketing to orbit. 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. On 5 March 2006, Aviation Week & Space Technology published a story purporting to be
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