Category Archives: space flight

space flight, space-age technology, spaceplane

The Age of the Spaceplane is Coming

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I’ve always been a sucker for spaceplanes. The idea of taking off in a sleek aircraft, heading to space, and then using it to come back for a smooth landing was once so science-fictiony. I loved it! It’s what many of us hoped the age of the space shuttles would bring to space flight. To a large extent, they did bring the dream alive beginning in 1981. When the shuttle program ended in 2011, we all looked around for a viable replacement. Today, NASA is counting on Apollo-style capsules on rockets to get people and goods to space. That’s all fine and good, but a good spaceplane is needed. As it turns out, one is on the horizon.

The Dream Chaser Spaceplane

spaceplane
Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser spaceplane, compared to a space shuttle. Artist’s concept courtesy SNC.

Enter the Dream Chaser. It’s a sleek little reusable shuttle about a quarter the size of the space shuttle, but the ability to carry cargo and/or up to seven astronauts to space. It’s been under development by the Sierra Nevada Corporation since the early 2000s. Dream Chaser’s history is much older and derives from ideas and designs dating back to the dawn of the space age.

The X-20 Dyna-Soar was first spaceplane-style design, dating back to the late 1950s. Other ideas for such a plane were developed by Northrup with its M2-F2 and the Martin company’s PRIME aircraft. The most direct ancestor of the Dream Chaser was NASA’s HL-20 aircraft, which dates back to the early 1990s. Its DNA also includes some ideas from the Russian/Soviet MiG-105 military aircraft.

Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser (there’s been more than one aircraft with that name) is on target to become part of NASA’s Commercial Crew development program. It already has commitments from the European Space Agency for its use in space. Once certified, Dream Chaser will be able to carry people and cargo to the International Space Station, or other targets in near-Earth orbit. I had a chance to see a mockup of this neat little spaceplane a year or so back at a local space event.  For me, it brings back the excitement of the space shuttles, but with 21st-century technology built in.

Testing, Testing, Testing…

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Dream Chaser at the end of a flight test; testing will continue through 2017 into 2018. Courtesy SNC.

Before Dream Chaser can go to space on a regular basis, it needs testing. With its awarded contracts to take people and cargo to space, the plane is undergoing aerodynamic and flight testing. Models are set up at NASA Langley’s wind tunnels and it has already done one round of flight tests. More are on the horizon through the rest of this year and into 2018. If all goes well (and so far, it looks good), the Dream Chaser will enter service for NASA in 2019.

Personally, I can’t wait to see this little spaceplane soar into space atop a rocket such as the Atlas V, Falcon Heavy, or an Ariane 5. Future missions could include a servicing visit to Hubble Space Telescope (although whether that will happen is open to debate). The UN has bought time on the spaceplane to give space to nations without launch capability. And, of course, the aforementioned cargo deliveries to the ISS and other stations are prime missions.

Dream Chaser’s parent company has been exploring the idea and possibilities of landing the spaceplane at public airports. Since its systems will not require special handling, it’s entirely possible that someday, we’ll watch a spaceplane come back to regular airports as needed. That may seem a bit far-fetched now, but as such things as space tourism develop further, landing people back near their home ports may be entirely possible. Until then, Dream Chaser is one of several vehicles (in addition to Spaceship 2 and balloon-borne craft) to watch as the U.S. moves forward into the third decade of 21st Century space exploration.

 

Blue Origins, space flight, space-age technology, spacex

Blue Origin brings Science Fiction to Life

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The Reusable Rocket is Now a Reality

Blue Origins after its historic landing back at the launch site in Texas. Courtesy Blue Origin.
Blue Origins after its historic landing back at the launch site in Texas. Courtesy Blue Origin.

The folks at Blue Origin made science fiction come to life  on November 23rd with the launch of the New Shepard space vehicle. It’s designed to launch, deploy its crew capsule payload, and then land safely back on its retractable legs. The test, which took place in Texas, looked almost too easy — but it showed that reusable rockets are here to stay, and that’s a HUGE advance in spacecraft engineering in the current round of development.

Settling a rocket back onto the ground “bottom first” on its retractable legs is not an easy task. It can be blown off course if winds kick up, and of course, there are the technical challenges of making sure all the rockets and electronics work in synchrony to guide the rocket back down over a narrow path. As you can see from the picture, the rocket did fine, landing right on the pad, with only a few burn marks on its rear end to show for its trouble.

Watch this video of the test provided by the Blue Origin team. It’s very cool.

Anybody who has read science fiction or seen SF movies with rockets routinely settling back to Earth after their journeys will recognize the beauty of what Jeff Bezos’s team has achieved. It’s another step into making space more accessible, particularly inspiring after the retirement of the space shuttle fleet a few years ago. In the first Space Race, there wasn’t the time to properly develop the “land the rocket back on the ground” capability, although there were early tests of reusable rockets with the DC-X by the folks at McDonnell-Douglas in the 1990s (thanks to Aldo Spadoni for pointing that out). But, the expendable rocket carried through all the world’s launches. Today, that’s changing — why throw away rockets if you can save money by safely reusing them? That’s what this test (and SpaceX’s tests) are trying to prove.

This test took place at the Blue Origin test site in Texas, and the missile reached an altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 meters). At that altitude, the crew capsule separated from the rocket and deployed parachutes for safe landing. The rocket then reversed course and settled back onto the pad in an amazing controlled landing.

So, this is a game-changer for space flight. It means that rockets can be re-used. After a thorough set of test flights like this one, Blue Origin’s vehicle can begin taking astronauts to space for a wide selection of crewed missions. This is something that the SpaceX team (led by Elon Musk) also is trying to do, but their attempted landings on a floating barge have been unsuccessful. The last one saw their rocket get back to the barge, but in the last few seconds, the vehicle blew over.  Since SpaceX has a contract with NASA to provide crew launch capabilities with its rocket, this latest test ups the ante in the private business space race.  Stay tuned!