Todos
← Back to Squawk list
New space plane would fly directly into orbit from a runway
On January 19, Washington-based startup Radian Aerospace came out of stealth mode, announcing that it had secured $27.5 million in funding to develop the Radian One, a first-of-its-kind space plane that flies into orbit after taking off horizontally from the ground. (www.freethink.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
As a former space shuttle engineer here at Kennedy, I won't be holding my breath on this project, sounds like a swamp land sale to me..
It’s ashame the article doesn't reveal what kind of magic fuel, or type of air breathing rocket engines they will use.
In early design stages the shuttle had no external tank, but a volume of fuel required to push to orbit simply didn’t fit inside the vehicle.
In early design stages the shuttle had no external tank, but a volume of fuel required to push to orbit simply didn’t fit inside the vehicle.
Sled launched
That’s not enough, you’ll need a sled that’s capable of reaching the velocity equal to the shortcoming of the vehicle to orbital velocity plus aerodynamic losses. We’re not talking supersonic here but close to 8km/s! That’s one magnificent sled :)
I agree. That was included in a news release a few years ago.