Questions tagged [spaceplane]
A spaceplane is an aerospace vehicle that operates as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere, as well as a spacecraft when it is in space.
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What's the point of Dream Chaser?
Dream Chaser, a reusable spaceplane launching atop an expendable booster at first, to me at least, seems stupid. There's all the additional development costs, payload penalties, and maintenance ...
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Could the Dream Chaser be launched to the ISS with a Falcon 9 rocket?
It seems to be the ultimate marriage of 2 reusable systems.
It pains me to watch people struggle with old-style parachute recovery capsules and disposable rockets.
The combination of the two would be ...
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Why are the bottoms of spaceplanes black?
The traditional answer is that it's because black radiates heat better. The problem is that in order to get rid of heat at all, the surface must glow brighter than the surrounding plasma. And that ...
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Why is the SpaceShipTwo being released from 44,300 ft, not from 50,000 ft as originally anticipated?
The VSS Unity is always released at an altitude of 44,300 ft (13.5 km) from the VMS Eve. The SpaceShipTwo was originally anticipated to be released at 50,000 ft (15.2 km) and many media still report ...
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Non-parallel Spaceplane staging?
The NZ/Netherlands aerospace company Dawn Aerospace is developing it's research scale vehicle, the Mk II:
https://www.dawnaerospace.com/spacelaunch
They haven't detailed their staging system for the ...
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The Space Debris Problem: Can a shuttle-style spaceplane even make a dent in it? [closed]
I'm a bit of a shuttle geek. Ask me what my favorite spaceplane is, I'll say the space shuttle! (Specifically, Discovery, since it launched my favorite telescope, Hubble!) While the shuttles ...
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Horizontal vs Vertical Takeoff
What is the reason that some space planes take off with the help of a rocket and others take off with nothing but their own engines. For example the X-37 uses an additional rocket while the VSS Unity ...
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What is the difference between a space plane and a space shuttle?
What is the difference between a space plane and a space shuttle? It seems that they both look similar and also have a similar purpose. But what is the true difference?
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Would a spaceplane be able to softly land on an airless planet?
Assuming the spaceplane has no vertical (hover)engines, is there a possibility to land a spaceplane on a celestial body without atmosphere in a horizontal way as if it had one? One could lower the ...
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Conceptual reusable orbital launch engine prototype for nanosatellites [closed]
I have realised that the process in which we go to space is highly inefficient and we should create a hypersonic spaceplane which take offs and goes to low earth orbit to release nanosatelite and ...
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Could the SpaceShipOne fly again?
A similar question to that one, but this one is concerning the suborbital SpaceShipOne spaceplane. Could it be reactivated for space tourism or other purposes? I remember in 2011 some sources stated ...
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Does Jonathan McDowell access U.S. military tracking network data? If so, how? Is a security clearance involved? (Can I too?)
NPR's news item and audio podcast New Chinese Space Plane Landed At Mysterious Air Base, Evidence Suggests draws heavily from information and quotes from noted astronomer with the Harvard-Smithsonian ...
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Which X-15 and SpaceShipOne flights took Coriolis forces into account on their flight path?
I wonder whether those X-15 and SpaceShipOne flights that reached space took into account the rotational Coriolis forces, so that they wouldn't reenter above a location where it would be too far from ...
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Is aerodynamic control in an exosphere possible, in case velocity is high enough?
Exospheres are different than the lower parts of atmospheres (if there are any): the molecules don't collide anymore and it doesn't behave like a gas. However, it still causes some tiny little drag on ...
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Is suborbital point-to-point flight on the SpaceShipTwo possible?
As of until now, both the SpaceShipTwo and its retired predecessor the SpaceShipOne, landed on the same spaceport they launched from in their spaceflights, the Mojave air- and spaceport. I wonder ...
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During their climb, when did/do the SpaceShipOne and Two pilots lose all or most of aerodynamic control over the spaceplane?
When, at what altitude and speed, did the pilots of SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo lose all or most of aerodynamic control over their spaceplane when rising into space? The SS1 and SS2 conducted five ...
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Are the SpaceShipTwo pilots weightless when the craft separates from the WhiteKnightTwo?
From my point of view, when the SpaceShipOne and Two get released from their carrier planes (WhiteKnight and WhiteKnightTwo) they are in free fall, therefore the pilots should become weightless inside ...
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Why did the SpaceShipTwo's ascent have to be aborted if the feather system wasn't unlocked in time?
One of the circumstances leading to the VSS Enterprise crash was the fear of the pilot to unlock the feather system too late, thus the ascent would have had to be aborted. The feather system must have ...
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For the upcoming Chinese Spaceplane launch, will the spaceplane be delivered directly into a LEO?
China are planning on launching an experimental spaceplane with a NET June launch date, which is likely the Tengfei-1. For this launch it will be launching on the Long March 2F. However in 2030 the ...
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What's the minimum speed for a spaceplane to reach outer space? [closed]
From a realistic point of view there must be a minimum speed in order to reach space in a suborbital spacecraft, let's say in a spaceplane. Like there's a first cosmic velocity (for orbit) and a 2nd ...
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What does it take for a craft to perform a flight simulating weightlessness without having to fly a steep parabola/ellipse?
Alright, I'll try to ask a better question on what I mean so that we figure out how one becomes weightless in a craft without having to fly steep parabolae. Other than flying parabolae or nose-down ...
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What was the volume of the Space Shuttle orbiter, not just the crew cabin or cargo bay but the total volume of the entire craft?
For context, after an in-depth Google search, I asked the question "What was the volume of the Space Shuttle orbiter, not just the crew cabin or cargo bay but the total volume of the entire craft?" on ...
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How much of a rocket's energy is used to achieve altitude vs horizontal velocity?
Given how it is significantly easier to achieve suborbital spaceflight, I was wondering about how a rocket spends its energy budget. If you magically could launch a rocket from 0 km/s but from an ...
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Has the use of any commercial launch vehicle's engines on an unrelated vehicle ever been seriously considered?
When reading On the Cusp: What’s NextDARPA Perspective on Space Briefing prepared for 53rd Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium
March 12, 2015 I saw the slide shown below. The slide's heading is ...
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How did the X-15 control attitude above the Kármán line?
This interesting, archived page https://www.webcitation.org/618QHms8h?url=http://www.fai.org/astronautics/100km.asp which I found in this answer to What would a "Kármán plane" look like, a ...
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How many companies are working on creating viable spaceplanes in the near future for human spaceflight(10-20 years)
As we are goinh into 2019 and we've seen the likes of XCOR Aerospace adn Virgin orbit working towards spaceplanes. How many other companies are working on getting humans to space, suborbital and ...
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How much higher is the wave drag for a spaceplane compared to its induced drag
I'm working on the conceptual design of the path of a suborbital spaceplane and am trying to do basic calculations. I read that wave drag near the sonic barrier can be huge and can impede the flight.
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ISRO's space plane on top of of a rocket - how unstable was it?
ISRO's space plane was launched on top of a rocket into a sub-orbital trajectory, with separation from the lift vehicle around 45 km and a maximum altitude of about 65 km, based on an analysis of the ...
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Seeking concept art or photo of MAKS on carrier plane
In an answer to this question Are the US shuttle and Buran the only space planes to have launched vertically with wings exposed? Schlusstein mentioned the proposed MAKS system, which was new to me.
(...
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Are the US shuttle and Buran the only space planes to have launched vertically with wings exposed?
The Space Shuttle and the Soviet/Russian Buran have launched vertically, and their wings were exposed to the full load of aerodynamic forces during the launch. Stability may come from many factors, ...
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Can you get to orbital speed with an air breathing engine?
There have been some questions (and answers) that talk about using an airplane as part (or all) of the launch to space. There are active designs that use wings as part of the launch or landing ...
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Could you use a hypersonic space plane to fly into space?
Is it possible to use a hypersonic jet that goes at extreme speeds in the atmosphere, then once it's at a high altitude it points down to just above the horizon and speeds up. Then it flies by that ...
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Might either the Buran or the Space Shuttle fly again, or similar spacecraft be built in the future?
I'm really impressed with these two spaceplanes, so I'm thinking is there any chance to fly again, or some similar spaceplanes (similar design, size...) to be built?
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Is there any leaked information about the real purpose of the X-37B spaceplane [duplicate]
Is there any leaked information about the real purpose of the X-37B. It is said that it could be used as a multipurpose space-plane such as a spy satellite or demonstrating technologies for re-...
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Gliding into the atmosphere
The recent question about Cessna reentering from ISS got the answers that all imply a rapid drop.
But from what I know, air drag is proportional:
to square of airspeed
to air density
to attack ...
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Was the X-15 program a dead end for orbital insertion?
That's B-70 Valkyrie carrying the X-15. What private space is trying to accomplish, was done in the 60's. In fact, The X-15 remains the fastest and highest flying manned aircraft ever flown.
What ...
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Could the 'anomaly' in the recent Virgin Galactic crash impact the other SpaceShipTwos?
I just found out about today's horrific crash of one of Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes, the VSS Enterprise. It apparently was due to an 'anomaly.' I realize that details are still ...
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What could the X-37 be useful for?
While U.S. Air Force doesn't disclose the tasks and roles for the X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle class spacecrafts, there are many things known about the vessel, such as its delta-v budget, its cargo bay ...
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Are today's rockets the last of a dying breed?
We're fortunate to live in an era where there are so many advances being made in aerospace engineering. There are a lot of new companies creating new machines to get to space. However, a lot of them ...
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What use could be getting to space just for a bit?
I asked a question about reaching space using non-rocket aircrafts on aviation.se and I found out that it may be possible to reach the space for a short moment and then a normal aircraft designed to ...
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