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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