Posted on 05/25/2017 6:58:35 AM PDT by BenLurkin
ARLINGTON, Va., May 24, 2017 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are collaborating to design, build and test a technology demonstration vehicle for the Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program.
Boeing will develop an autonomous, reusable spaceplane capable of carrying and deploying a small expendable upper stage to launch small (3,000 pound/1,361 kg) satellites into low Earth orbit. Boeing and DARPA will jointly invest in the development.
Once the spaceplane – called Phantom Express – reaches the edge of space, it would deploy the second stage and return to Earth. It would then land on a runway to be prepared for its next flight by applying operation and maintenance principles similar to modern aircraft.
“Phantom Express is designed to disrupt and transform the satellite launch process as we know it today, creating a new, on-demand space-launch capability that can be achieved more affordably and with less risk,” said Darryl Davis, president, Boeing Phantom Works.
The Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-22 engine, a version of the legacy Space Shuttle main engine, would power the spaceplane. It is designed to be reusable and operates using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuel.
Phantom Express would offer an advanced airframe design as well as third-generation thermal protection to create a vehicle capable of flying at high flight velocity, while carrying a smaller, more affordable expendable upper stage to achieve the mission objectives.
In the test phase of the program, Boeing and DARPA plan to conduct a demonstration of 10 flights over 10 days.
I see they’re still rehashing the X-20 Dyna-Soar.
Ping
I like it. Microsats in LEO can do lots of things but you need a pickup truck to launch them, not a semi.
Dyna-Soar should never have been abandoned in the first place. Neither should the X-15.
Thanks for the ping!
The X-20 Lives! :-)
Dyna-Soar should never have been abandoned in the first place. Neither should the X-15.
...
Blame the Soviets. Those programs were dropped to pay for the space race.
True.
But Dyna-Soar was envisioned with military applications, and we’d agreed not to “militarise space” during the same time frame, so it “had” to go.
:-(
I don’t see how the tiny second stage can hold a payload weighing 3000 pounds unless it’s made out of lead.
The Dyna-Soar was launched with a Titan III missile, and returned on a runway. The XS-1 is self-contained. It’s basically a reusable first stage, like the SpaceX Falcon first stage, but lands on a runway instead of vertically. It also goes a lot higher and faster than a Falcon first stage, but not all the way to orbit.
I wonder how this is better than a Pegasus rocket launched by an L1011 jet.
>3x the payload to orbit, for one thing.
I first heard of it when the shuttle was in its planning/concept stage.
Boeing offered a winged version of the Saturn V first stage, the booster that lifted the Apollo astronauts to the moon. After carrying the shuttle to LEO, the booster would glide back to earth, land on a runway and be reused.
Guess the numbers didn't work; it was decided the shuttle would have onboard engines, throwaway fuel tank and solid boosters instead.
Speaking of the shuttle, can anyone remember how much it cost to refurbish and reuse it? Wasn't it always cheaper and easier to just throw away boosters instead of trying to reuse them?
My guess it’s an excuse to funnel money to cronies.
I think when development costs were included a Shuttle mission was half a billion dollars.
#5,7,8 The Dyna Soar was abandoned due to the cost of repairing the pilot.
I think it cost $6 million : )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGO57y4td-c
They should sell seats.
The New Glenn reusable first stage VTVL rocket will be flying before this rehashed DynaSoar spaceplane first stage will fly, if the spaceplane actually flies, that is...
The SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable VTVL rocket is already flying to this very day!
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