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Does space matter to you?

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Sand
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24 May 2011, 10:29 am

You might find this interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13506289



iamnotaparakeet
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24 May 2011, 12:08 pm

Sand wrote:
You might find this interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13506289


That is rather cool. Using atmospheric oxygen to burn fuel until a given altitude is reached and then switching to onboard supplies of oxygen. A real space-plane, rather than the Shuttle which requires boosters.



Vigilans
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24 May 2011, 12:34 pm

Reminds me of this Indian 'Avatar' RLV


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ruveyn
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24 May 2011, 12:56 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Sand wrote:
You might find this interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13506289


That is rather cool. Using atmospheric oxygen to burn fuel until a given altitude is reached and then switching to onboard supplies of oxygen. A real space-plane, rather than the Shuttle which requires boosters.


What is the free board lifting capacity of this vehicle?

ruveyn



iamnotaparakeet
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24 May 2011, 1:08 pm

ruveyn wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Sand wrote:
You might find this interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13506289


That is rather cool. Using atmospheric oxygen to burn fuel until a given altitude is reached and then switching to onboard supplies of oxygen. A real space-plane, rather than the Shuttle which requires boosters.


What is the free board lifting capacity of this vehicle?

ruveyn


Cargo capacity? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_E ... ayload_bay

Quote:
Payload bay

The payload bay of the Skylon C2 design is a cylinder 12.3 metres (40.4 ft) long and 4.6 metres (15 ft) in diameter.[10] It is designed to be comparable with current payload dimensions, and yet able to support the containerization of payloads that Reaction Engines hopes for in the future.[10] To an equatorial orbit, Skylon could deliver 12 tonnes (26,455 lb) to a 300 kilometres (186 mi) height or 10.5 tonnes (23,149 lb) to a 460 kilometres (286 mi) altitude.[10] It could also launch 9.5 tonnes (20,944 lb) to the orbit of the International Space Station, when launching from the equator.[10] Using interchangeable payload containers, Skylon could be fitted to carry satellites or fluid cargo into orbit, or, in a specialised habitation module, up to 30 astronauts in a single launch.[18][19]



ruveyn
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24 May 2011, 1:29 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Sand wrote:
You might find this interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13506289


That is rather cool. Using atmospheric oxygen to burn fuel until a given altitude is reached and then switching to onboard supplies of oxygen. A real space-plane, rather than the Shuttle which requires boosters.


What is the free board lifting capacity of this vehicle?

ruveyn


Cargo capacity? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_E ... ayload_bay

Quote:
Payload bay

The payload bay of the Skylon C2 design is a cylinder 12.3 metres (40.4 ft) long and 4.6 metres (15 ft) in diameter.[10] It is designed to be comparable with current payload dimensions, and yet able to support the containerization of payloads that Reaction Engines hopes for in the future.[10] To an equatorial orbit, Skylon could deliver 12 tonnes (26,455 lb) to a 300 kilometres (186 mi) height or 10.5 tonnes (23,149 lb) to a 460 kilometres (286 mi) altitude.[10] It could also launch 9.5 tonnes (20,944 lb) to the orbit of the International Space Station, when launching from the equator.[10] Using interchangeable payload containers, Skylon could be fitted to carry satellites or fluid cargo into orbit, or, in a specialised habitation module, up to 30 astronauts in a single launch.[18][19]


Pitiful. The Apollo had a payload capcity of Fully fueled it had a total mass of 6.5 million pounds (3,000 metric tons) and a payload capacity of 260,000 pounds (120,000 kg) to LEO. (From the Wiki article).

ruveyn



iamnotaparakeet
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24 May 2011, 1:30 pm

ruveyn wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Sand wrote:
You might find this interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13506289


That is rather cool. Using atmospheric oxygen to burn fuel until a given altitude is reached and then switching to onboard supplies of oxygen. A real space-plane, rather than the Shuttle which requires boosters.


What is the free board lifting capacity of this vehicle?

ruveyn


Cargo capacity? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_E ... ayload_bay

Quote:
Payload bay

The payload bay of the Skylon C2 design is a cylinder 12.3 metres (40.4 ft) long and 4.6 metres (15 ft) in diameter.[10] It is designed to be comparable with current payload dimensions, and yet able to support the containerization of payloads that Reaction Engines hopes for in the future.[10] To an equatorial orbit, Skylon could deliver 12 tonnes (26,455 lb) to a 300 kilometres (186 mi) height or 10.5 tonnes (23,149 lb) to a 460 kilometres (286 mi) altitude.[10] It could also launch 9.5 tonnes (20,944 lb) to the orbit of the International Space Station, when launching from the equator.[10] Using interchangeable payload containers, Skylon could be fitted to carry satellites or fluid cargo into orbit, or, in a specialised habitation module, up to 30 astronauts in a single launch.[18][19]


Pitiful. The Apollo had a payload capcity of Fully fueled it had a total mass of 6.5 million pounds (3,000 metric tons) and a payload capacity of 260,000 pounds (120,000 kg) to LEO. (From the Wiki article).

ruveyn


How does the cost per mass compare though?



ruveyn
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24 May 2011, 1:34 pm

[quote="iamnotaparakeet"

How does the cost per mass compare though?[/quote]

We were talking about lifting capacity, not cost per ton of cargo.

If I had to guess I would say this half-plane half-rocket ship is cheaper. How much cheaper? I have not the foggiest idea.

ruveyn



iamnotaparakeet
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24 May 2011, 4:53 pm

ruveyn wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:

How does the cost per mass compare though?


We were talking about lifting capacity, not cost per ton of cargo.

If I had to guess I would say this half-plane half-rocket ship is cheaper. How much cheaper? I have not the foggiest idea.

ruveyn


Quote:
The price for launching a kilogram of payload into a geostationary orbit - the location for today's big telecoms satellites - is currently more than $15,000 (£9,000). Skylon's re-usability could bring that down to less than $1,000[/kg], claims REL.

If the vehicle ever does go into full production, the investment required will probably be in the region of $9-12bn (£5.5-7.5bn), but the company will not be looking to government for that money.
Link from before.



Sand
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25 May 2011, 6:12 pm

See
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/05/nasa-unveils-ne.php



iamnotaparakeet
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25 May 2011, 6:34 pm

Sand wrote:
See
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/05/nasa-unveils-ne.php


And from NASA directly also:

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/ma ... ision.html

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/



ruveyn
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25 May 2011, 6:37 pm

Sand wrote:
See
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/05/nasa-unveils-ne.php


At least the man-carrying portion is on top where it belongs.

ruveyn



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25 May 2011, 7:26 pm

It's a long standing dream to have a single stage to orbit. Likely to remain a long standing one for some time.

Blue Origins (created by the Amazon founder) is trying to build a fully reusable two stage to orbit rocket that lands vertically under power. The New Shepherd. It's also likely may years away.



Last edited by simon_says on 25 May 2011, 7:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Inuyasha
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25 May 2011, 7:29 pm

They were actually thinking of launching shuttles off of airplanes for a while but finally figured it was a bad idea.



Oodain
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25 May 2011, 7:38 pm

Inuyasha wrote:
They were actually thinking of launching shuttles off of airplanes for a while but finally figured it was a bad idea.


there are still multiple designs using that method, some even propose a specialized high altitude carrier plane using scramjet technology.

not a bad idea, the one instance were nasa tried it simply yielded bad results.


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simon_says
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25 May 2011, 7:59 pm

Sand wrote:
See
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/05/nasa-unveils-ne.php


This is not really a big deal. This is just the continuation of Orion under a different name, which was basically mandated by Congress. Next month there should be some real new information.