SpaceX's Dragon Cargo Ship Returns

"SpaceX Dragon Capsule Splashes Down in Pacific, Ending Historic Test Flight"
Clara Moskowitz, Space.com (May 31, 2012)


(SpaceX/Michael Altenhofen, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

"The world's first commercial space cargo ship dove through Earth's atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean early Thursday (May 31), ending an historic test flight to the International Space Station.

"The SpaceX Dragon capsule made a water landing off the coast of Baja California, Mexico at 11:42 a.m. EDT (1542 GMT). Recovery ships have spotted the capsule and are en route to collect the vehicle to tow to Los Angeles...."

This may have been a "test flight," but the Dragon was also hauling cargo on this run.

"...While the cargo-delivery spacecraft built by Russia, Japan and Europe are designed to burn up during re-entry, Dragon is equipped with a heat shield and parachutes to survive the fiery plunge.

"Dragon is packed with 1,367 pounds (620 kg) of crew items, used hardware and completed science experiments for its return trip. On the way up, the spacecraft delivered student-designed experiments and food, clothing and other supplies for the station's astronauts...."
(Space.com)

I can see why some folks decided to concentrate on building one-way cargo carriers. The Dragon's heat shield and other re-entry equipment adds weight - and complexity - to the SpaceX vehicle. It's arguably faster and easier to make a one-way disposable ship.

On the other hand, how long would a commercial carrier like FedEx Express stay in business, if they flew each of their Airbuses once, and then threw it away? I think we'll be seeing more reusable spaceships, as space transport moves away from government programs, and into the hands of folks who know how to run a business.

Coming - Fairly Soon

"Splashdown for SpaceX Dragon spacecraft"
Jonathan Amos, BBC News (May 31, 2012)

"...The agency hopes the contracting out of freight duties will save it money that can then be re-invested in more daring activities beyond the station, at destinations such as asteroids and Mars.

"The commercial cargo approach will be followed later this decade by crew transport services.

"SpaceX wants this business as well, and is developing the safety and life-support equipment that would allow Dragon to double up as an astronaut taxi...."

SpaceX's Dragon will probably make a pretty good 'taxi' to Earth orbit: but the Lemming suspects that its 'parachute drop' landing technology will make it one of the less attractive alternatives.

There aren't any 'fly back' spaceships available today, now that the Space Shuttle has been retired. Not too many years from now, that could change.

Reaction Engines Limited's Skylon spaceplane is designed to use commercial airports for landing - and takeoff. It may not be long before a single vehicle will be a 'hypersonic transport' carrying taking cargo and passengers across the Pacific on one run, and fly to an orbital facility on the next.


(from Blue Origin, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

Other companies, like Blue Origin, are developing spaceships that take off and make powered vertical landings. The Lemming thinks that research and development may pay off in a few decades - or a few generations - when commercial service to the Moon and other places without a thick atmosphere comes into demand.

The Lemming is pretty sure that it's when commercial service to the Moon and beyond: not if.

The question is when, and who will be taking part. Like the Lemming said, "when it's time to build spaceships, people will build spaceships." (October 4, 2009)

People are building spaceships.

Related posts:

• "The Dragon Flies: SpaceX Photo, and Some Drawings"
  (May 25, 2012)
• "Skylon Spaceplane's New Engine Test; Old Video; Passenger Module"
  (April 30, 2012)
• "McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper: First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Freighter - Almost"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "SpaceX's Dragon: Getting Closer to Commercial Service"
  (December 8, 2010)
• "Blue Origin: Another Company Building Spaceships"
  (February 27, 2010)

Skylon Spaceplane's New Engine Test; Old Video; Passenger Module

"Key tests for Skylon spaceplane project"
BBC News (April 27, 2012)

"UK engineers have begun critical tests on a new engine technology designed to lift a spaceplane into orbit.


(Reaction Engines, via BBC, used w/o permission)
"The pre-cooler demonstration is a major step in proving the Skylon concept"

"The proposed Skylon vehicle would operate like an airliner, taking off and landing at a conventional runway.

"Its major innovation is the Sabre engine, which can breathe air like a jet at lower speeds but switch to a rocket mode in the high atmosphere.

"Reaction Engines Limited (REL) believes the test campaign will prove the readiness of Sabre's key elements.

"This being so, the firm would then approach investors to raise the £250m needed to take the project into the final design phase.

" 'We intend to go to the Farnborough International Air Show in July with a clear message,' explained REL managing director Alan Bond.

" 'The message is that Britain has the next step beyond the jet engine; that we can reduce the world to four hours - the maximum time it would take to go anywhere. And that it also gives us aircraft that can go into space, replacing all the expendable rockets we use today.'..."

The Lemming's been following Skylon for a few years now. It's good to see another milestone approaching for the robot spaceplane.

Giving Skylon artificial intelligence should save a lot of weight, since autopilots don't need the sort of bulky environment systems that humans require. It's smart design, in the Lemming's opinion, since Skylon is designed for routine cargo runs.

On the other hand, Skylon's operators may run into legal complications. The Lemming hasn't researched this, but it seems likely that someone's going to make a fuss about a 269-foot-long robot sharing airspace and taxiways with other aircraft. There may even be laws that say an airplane has to have a human pilot.

Human Pilots: Good News, Bad News

In the Lemming's opinion, humans are pretty good at dealing with unexpected situations. Particularly if there isn't a whole lot of data available for a thorough analysis. As someone said:

• Computers are designed to arrive at correct solutions
  • Given enormous amounts of data
    • All of which is completely accurate
• Human brains are designed to arrive at correct solutions
  • Given very little data
    • Most of which is wrong

A wide-awake, undistracted, human pilot is nice to have around when you're 1,500 feet over a major city and the engines quit. But now and then someone falls asleep, or misses the airport: which tends to diminish the impression that a human's place is at the controls. The Lemming has posted about the ups and downs of having humans in the loop before:

• "Lemming Tracks: East Coast Air Travel; or, 'Oops' "
  (March 24, 2011)
• "Flight 188, Distracted Pilots, and Dangerously Impractical Software?"
  (November 27, 2009)
• "Now there are Two 'Heroes of the Hudson' "
  (January 31, 2009)
• "US Airways Flight 1549: Lost Two Engines, No People"
  (January 17, 2009)

Skylon: the Video

"SKYLON Spaceplane: Mission Animation"

SpaceRenaissance, YouTube (August 10, 2010)
video, 6:45
"SKYLON is the successor to Britain's HOTOL spaceplane concept, being developed by Reaction Engines Ltd (REL). It is an unpiloted fully reusable aircraft-like vehicle capable of transporting 12 tonnes of cargo into space and is intended as a replacement for expensive expendable launchers in the commerical {!] market. (Source: www.spacefuture.com)..."

"Blue Danube," starting about 3:18 into the video, is a nod to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968). That, or a whacking great coincidence. Either way, it's a pretty good 'this is how it works' video. Or, more accurately, how Skylon will work. Provided that technical issues are manageable, and investors keep funding it.

Of course, it's possible that Reaction Engines' investors will decide that they'd rather not be part of 21st century transportation. That would change details aerospace transport, but not the 'big picture.' In the Lemming's opnion. There are other outfits with systems to service low Earth orbit installations in the works, like:

• Armadillo Aerospace
• Bigelow Aerospace
  • Space station modules
• Blue Origin
• Bristol Spaceplanes

There are more: and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace/Boeing may dust off its Delta Clipper/DC X.

Skylon: Optional Passenger Module

(Reaction Engines Ltd., used w/o permission)

That passenger module could easily go through a few more design changes before Skylon actually flies. From the looks of what Reaction Engines Ltd. has now, Skylon flights could serve as a sort of commuter service to whatever replaces the ISS. Or maybe drop the module off in orbit as a sort of mini-station.

More about Skylon:

• "SKYLON"
  Reaction Engines Ltd.

Related posts:

• "Spaceplanes: Seven Decades, One Infographic, and a Hopeful Lemming"
  (July 23, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Era Ends: 'It's On to the Next Adventure' "
  (July 21, 2011)
• "British Spaceplane Engine Test Coming in June"
  (May 6, 2011)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019"
  (March 12, 2009)

Still more, about:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades "
• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Centuries"

Spaceplanes: Seven Decades, One Infographic, and a Hopeful Lemming

"Space Planes: Evolution of the Winged Spaceship (Infographic)"
Karl Tate, Space.com (July 5, 2011)


Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

It's a pretty good one-stop look at the last seven decades of spaceplane development.

There's the usual stuff about the American military 'admitting' that the X-37B spaceplane exists. It's (almost) true. Sort of. I've posted a sort of reality check about the X-37B. Several times. Including this:

• "NASA's X-37 Project, New Technologies, and - EEEK! the Military!!"
  (October 23, 2009)

I got the memo, about the death of Disco and passing of the '60s: but not everyone seems to have read their copy. And that's another topic.

Space Shuttle, Hype, and Hope

The Space Shuttle wasn't the sort of airliner-to-orbit that we'd hoped for. On the other hand, it carried modules of the International Space Station (ISS) up, ferried people to and from the ISS, launched satellites: and carried the occasional repair crew. Remember the Hubble fix?

Until folks started building working models of today's spaceships, there was some optimism. Maybe even excessive optimism. ("Future Space," Tales of Future Past, David S. Zondy)

On the whole, though, the Lemming thinks excessive optimism is easier to stand - than the 'and we're all gonna die' attitude that's been fashionable for a while. Yet another topic.

As outfits like Bigelow Aerospace add to the ISS - and set up other orbital destinations - there's going to be a market for anyone with a practical, safe, surface-to-orbit ferry service. Which probably means that Skylon, Dream Chaser, some other spaceplane - or maybe something like the scuttled Delta Clipper - will be the 21st century's DC-3.

Or maybe swarms of killer bees will make nuclear power plants explode, paving the way for killer robots, mutant frogs, and homicidal computers to kill the survivors of biological warfare, global warming, and the coming ice age. ("Science Fiction in the Movies: 'The Satan Bug' to 'The Matrix'," Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (January 26, 2010)) That's not likely, though: in the Lemming's opinion.

Related posts:

• "Space Shuttle: Three Decades of Flights; and Looking from Silbervogel to the Stars"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "British Spaceplane Engine Test Coming in June"
  (May 6, 2011)
• "X-37B Back on Earth: Photos, Facts, and the Lemming"
  (December 3, 2010)
• "X-51 Waverider, Bullet Trains: Change Happens"
  (March 11, 2010)
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019 "
  (March 12, 2009)

Also:

• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)

What's next?

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades

Space Shuttle: Three Decades of Flights; and Looking from Silbervogel to the Stars

"How the Space Shuttle Was Born"
Mike Wall, Space.com (June 28, 2011)


(NASA, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

"The last-ever space shuttle launch — that of Atlantis, scheduled for July 8 — will come just over three decades after the first one, which took place April 12, 1981.

"But that's not to say NASA's iconic shuttle program just turned 30 years old. It's actually pushing 40, since President Richard Nixon officially announced its existence in January 1972. And the shuttle's roots go much deeper than that, stretching all the way back to a 1930s concept vehicle the Nazis hoped could drop bombs on New York City.

"The story of the shuttle's birth is one of big dreams and slashed budgets, of shifting visions, of NASA and the nation's attempt to find their way in space after beating the Soviets to the moon in 1969. Here is a synopsis of that long, involved tale. [NASA's Space Shuttle Program in Pictures]

"Roots: The Silbervogel

"In the late 1930s, the Nazis initiated the 'Amerika Bomber' project, an effort to build an aircraft capable of taking off from Germany and dropping a bomb on the continental United States.

"Various engineers, including a man named Eugen Sanger, submitted proposals. Sanger's idea, developed with the mathematician Irene Bredt, was a type of winged rocket called the Silbervogel (German for 'silver bird').

"The reusable Silbervogel would ascend to suborbital space, then drop down into the stratosphere. At that point, the increasing air density would give the vehicle lift, bouncing it to a higher altitude again. The process would repeat, with the Silbervogel making the trip across the Atlantic in a series of leaps and bounds...."

That sort of transatlantic roller coaster isn't likely to ever be used for passenger service - but it's got possibilities as a freight carrier. Provided there's a high demand for ultra-fast transcontinental package delivery.

The article traces the Space Shuttle's development, through the X-15 rocket plane that flew, the X-20 Dyna-Soar that didn't, the Apollo program that skipped over steps we're taking now, with the International Space Station (ISS).

Or, rather, that NASA and the American government would be taking, if the Beltway folks hadn't run up a mind-boggling debt. Which reminds the Lemming of college kids with credit cards and indulgent parents - and that's almost another topic. (May 16, 2011)

'When It's Time to Build Spaceships - - - '

Right now, if the American Congress decides that developing better ways to get people and cargo to Earth orbit: It'll make a difference.

Sort of.

If Congress also decides to stay out of the way of folks who run outfits like Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America, SpaceX, and Blue Origin: America will probably be one of the countries with commercial properties in orbit - and beyond. Which will present a dilemma of sorts for Ivy League universities: They'll have to consider whether to have an expedition outfitter with a local office handle their science projects; or impress folks by outsourcing to France. Or maybe India. There seems to be a sort of prestige involved with going to another country - to get what's available down the street.

On the other hand, if Congress decides to 'protect' 'the Masses' from big, dangerous spaceship and the reckless people who build them - well, Japan has a quite active space program, so do India, China, and quite a few other nations.

Someone may even have the nerve to let private sector firms develop transport systems - that work reliably, safely, on-schedule, and on-budget.

The Lemming's been over this before:

• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)

This is the Apathetic Lemming?!

In case you're wondering about the Lemming's name? Check out "About the Lemming."

What's Next?

You can buy tickets for suborbital flights right now - although Virgin Galactic hasn't brought its tourist service out of development yet. Other firms are concentrating on less glamorous freight and passenger service to the ISS. And rental properties like the ones Bigelow Aerospace is developing.

The Lemming doesn't expect anything with quite the 'wow factor' of the Apollo project. Not any time soon. International politics don't seem right for something like the 'Moon Race.'

Still - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA have been discussing starship design. (PCMag.com (October 30, 2010)) It's not exactly "Star Trek" stuff - physicists are still wrangling over warp drive theory (June 12, 2009) - but the Lemming thinks we're closer to having a working interstellar probe now, than we were to having people on the Moon in 1955. (December 12, 2010, May 9, 2010)

And, for all the Lemming knows, somebody may have worked the bugs out of Alcubierre's theory.

Meanwhile, Blue Origin and SpaceX are building flying gumdrops that promise to offer practical ferry service to and from orbit.

Related posts:

• "Atlantis: "Inspirational," the Last of Its Kind (and what's next)"
  (July 8, 2011)
• "Endeavor's Last Flight, Orbital Hotels, and Spaceports"
  (June 1, 2011)
• "Last Trip for Space Shuttle Endeavour; and Reaching for the Stars"
  (May 16, 2011)
• "Major Leagues, Minor Leagues, and the Hanseatic League"
  (April 29, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Infographic: From Steering Thrusters to Rudder/Speed Brake"
  (January 31, 2011)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

British Spaceplane Engine Test Coming in June

"Big Test Looms for British Space Plane Concept"
Mike Wall, Space.com (April 18, 2011 )

"A huge, unmanned British space plane is on pace to start launching payloads into Earth orbit in less than a decade - provided it can pass a crucial engine test in June, its designers say.

"The Skylon space plane - which would take off and land horizontally, like a commercial jet - is still a concept vehicle for now, but it recently passed several rigorous independent design reviews, the British company Reaction Engines Ltd, which is developing the spacecraft, announced Tuesday (April 12).

"Private funding is lined up to see it through all stages of development, culminating with the start of commercial operations in 2020. That funding, however, is contingent on Skylon hitting some key milestones along the way, and a big one looms just a few months off....

"...In its current design incarnation, the Skylon space plane is a spaceship behemoth. It is about 276 feet (84 meters) long and weighs about 303 tons (275,000 kilograms) at liftoff. For comparison, the main truss of the International Space Station – which is the largest spacecraft ever built – is about 357 1/2 feet (109 meters) long and weighs about 408 tons (370,290 kg)..."

It's not the size of Skylon that sets it apart so much as the engines, in the Lemming's opinion.

Reaction Engines (Abingdon, Oxfordshire) has developed a sort of hybrid engine they call SABRE. It's designed to use oxygen from Earth's atmosphere until Skylon is about 16 miles up and going Mach 5. Then the engine switches to burning hydrogen from an onboard tank, like many rockets do now.

Relying on oxygen collected in transit for the first leg to orbit means less oxygen stored in Skylon - making more room for cargo. Mass, actually - but the point is that it's an elegant idea that hasn't been done before.

Hence the test in June.

The Lemming hopes that Reaction Engines succeeds - and suspects that it won't be long before others are designing and building their own spaceplanes.

• "Hypersonic Transports: Not Yet, But They're Coming"
  (March 30, 2010)
• "Hypersonic Vehicles: Waveriders to Space"
  (November 2, 2009)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "A Freighter Unloads its Cargo: What's the Big Deal?"
  (September 20, 2009)
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019"
  (March 12, 2009)

The Lemming's take on:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades "

X-37B Back on Earth: Photos, Facts, and the Lemming

"First Landing Photos: Secret X-37B Robot Space Plane Lands in Calif."
Tariq Malik, Space.com (December 3, 2010)

"The U.S. Air Force's mysterious X-37B robot space plane returned to Earth today (Dec. 3) with a successful landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California before sunrise.

Air Force officials hailed the unmanned X-37B space plane's successful landing, though its mission remains shrouded in secrecy because of its classified nature. But Vandenberg's 30th Space Wing did not shy from snapping photos of the X-37B vehicle, known as the Orbital Test Vehicle 1...."

The rest of the article is nine photos of the X-37B, with captions and a little text. Here are two of them:


(Air Force photographer, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
"X-37B in Profile: An Air Force photographer snapped this profile view of the X-37B shortly after its Dec. 3 landing."


(Space.com, used w/o permission)
"Welcome Home: This X-37B space plane's payload bay is seen clearly in this side view, as is the scale of the spacecraft compared to a human."

Quite a lot of the news and discussion of the X-37B has used words and phrases like "secret," "secretly," and "cloaked in secrecy." Even "mysterious." That caught the Lemming's attention, and it turned out that - well, yeah: part of the project is "secret."

This article has one of the less breathless descriptions about what all that "mysterious" stuff is about:

"...The X-37B began its life in 1999 as a NASA project, then transferred to the Pentagon's DARPA office in 2004. The Air Force took over in 2006. This mission launched on April 22, 2010. The flight's purpose and cost are classified...."
("First Landing Photos: Secret X-37B Robot Space Plane Lands in Calif." Tariq Malik, Space.com (December 3, 2010))

Now, another article about the X-37B from Space.com:

"Secretive X-37B Robot Space Plane Returns to Earth on Autopilot"
Tariq Malik, Space.com (December 3, 2010)

"After seven months in space, the U.S. Air Force's secretive X-37B unmanned space plane returned to Earth today to wrap up a debut flight shrouded in secrecy.

"The robotic X-37B space plane landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to end its maiden voyage. The space plane, also known as Orbital Test Vehicle 1, glided back to Earth over the Pacific Ocean before landing at the revamped Vandenberg runway at about 1:16 a.m. PST (0916 GMT) today (Dec. 3).

" 'Today's landing culminates a successful mission based on close teamwork between the 30th Space Wing, Boeing and the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office,' said Lt Col Troy Giese, X-37B program manager from the AFRCO, which oversaw the mission. 'We are very pleased that the program completed all the on-orbit objectives for the first mission.'..."

"...The Air Force has kept the exact nature and cost of the X-37B's secretive mission a closely guarded secret, but some analysts and skywatchers have speculated that the spacecraft served as an unmanned orbital spy platform...."

The Lemming thinks that's possible. Maybe the X-37B "secretive" mission is a test run for another spy satellite: a somewhat smarter and more versatile one this time. I've run into people who go ballistic over spy satellites. The argument was somewhat difficult to follow, but apparently spy satellites cause wars because people feel bad about them. Specifically, the people being spied on. Like North Korea's Kim Jong Il. And that's another topic, for another blog.

Or, maybe the X-37B's mission was to rendezvous with the space alien mother ship that's going to land and enslave us all next month. That's not so much unlikely, as simply weird.

The Lemming thinks it's possible that the X-37B might, be tied in with Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion, or SUSTAIN: space Marines, in other words. (April 18, 2010) (Harrumph! What nonsense! Next, the Lemming will be saying that soldiers can fly through the air. Oh, wait - - -.)

The X-37B is a bit small for the sort of rapid-deployment operation SUSTAIN seems to be thinking of. But it wouldn't have to be scaled up all that much.

As for hand-wringing about the military and all that? The Lemming figures enough folks are doing that already. I pass.

The article's got a fair amount of background and information about the X-37B, including this infographic:


(Karl Tate, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

Related posts:

• "Secret X-37B Space Plane and Amateur Astronomers"
  (May 23, 2010)
• "X-37B Test Flight Scheduled For Tomorrow: Robots, Spaceships, and Feeling Safe"
  (April 21, 2010)
• "Space Marines: Really"
  (April 18, 2010)
• "X-37B / Orbital Test Vehicle Robot Spaceplane Now an Air Force Project"
  (April 5, 2010)
• "NASA's X-37 Project, New Technologies, and - EEEK! the Military!!"
  (October 23, 2009)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Hyperbole, Business, and a Spaceship Factory

"Race to space in Mojave "
KGET TV 17 (November 17, 2010)

" 'This is the Plymouth Rock of the new modern American space movement. This is where it starts,' said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, (R) California.

"In about a year, it will be home to Virgin Galactic's first spaceship factory. A 68,000 square foot hangar at Mojave's Air and Spaceport. Sir Richard Branson's spaceship company will build and test fly three Whiteknight mother ships and five Spaceshiptwo rocket planes here.

"That $250 million endeavour is overshadowed, however, by what happened in New Mexico in mid-October, the unveiling of the runway for 'Spaceport America', the nation's first commercial airport for space tourism. 'But we took the risk and here we are today, landing on the runway, touring the terminal hangar facility and talking about when commercial operations will begin,' said New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson...."

The 'Plymouth Rock' thing may be hyperbole: the spaceship factory isn't; and neither is the work-in-progress at Spaceport America.

I'll skip the standard-issue stuff that's in the news, about these here now newfangled spaceships dee-stroying pretty near all of delicate little Mother Nature's thingummies. You've heard it all before, anyway.

Which reminds the Lemming of the story about these two cavemen. They were looking, suspiciously, at a bunch of less-fearful folk gleefully viewing a campfire. One said to the other, "just wait: someday it'll get out of control and burn down the entire village."

Come to think of it, there was the Great Chicago Fire - - -. Which happened well after the Paleolithic era, and is another topic.

Where was I? Spaceships. Factories, Spaceport America. Right.

The Construction Status page at Spaceport America's website was updated on the 15th. No big whoop there: They've posted a new photo of a construction site.

The prosaic 'look' of some of the photos at Spaceport America's website is, in its own way, a pretty big deal. The Lemming remembers when construction at a commercial spaceport was 'science fiction stuff:' the sort of thing you might expect to see in an old Flash Gordon serial.

Now? Spaceport America is one of about a half-dozen spaceports in this country. And America's space industry isn't the only game in town - by a long shot. (see "Humanity in Space: Looking at the Big Picture" (January 29, 2010))

Back to Virgin Galactic's spaceship factory, the WhiteKnight mother ships SpaceShipTwo suborbital jitneys.

The Lemming's opinion is that space tourism is important: particularly for folks who provide services to those of us with the wherewithal to pay for a short hop into space. That sort of thing is 'way beyond my household's budget: but so are Caribbean cruises and quite a few other high-end leisure activities.

As the Lemming has said, about high-end mansions: it's nice to have folks with that kind of money. They make it possible for the rest of us to enjoy the glitter - at a distance - without the hassle of maintaining that kind of pile.

The Lemming's getting off-topic again. That's been happening a lot lately. Like right now.

According to the Virgin Galactic website, upwards of 340 folks have already booked flights on their spaceships - and the company gives you an opportunity to sign up online.

Even if you're not planning a short trip to space, virgingalactic.com's got some nice eye candy.

Related posts:

• "Bigelow Aerospace, Private Space Station, International Enterprise"
  (October 20, 2010)
• "SpaceShipTwo's Quarter-Hour Glide"
  (October 11, 2010)
• "Russia Will Have First* Commercial Space Station"
  (September 29, 2010)
• "Boeing CST-100 Spaceship: Passenger Service to ISS, Commercial Space Stations"
  (July 21, 2010)
• "X-51A Waverider: It's Just the Beginning"
  (June 18, 2010)
• "Taxi to the Stars, No: To Earth Orbit, Soon"
  (June 5, 2010)
• "America's Seventh Spaceport"
  (January 19, 2010)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Spaceships Launched on Rails: Not-So-New Idea Proposed

"Railway to the Sky? NASA Ponders New Launch System"
Space.com (September 14, 2010)

"Imagine this: A wedge-shaped aircraft attached to a supersonic jet engine is hurtling along an electrified track, carrying a pod or spacecraft destined for orbit.

"Sound farfetched? It may not be.

"A team of engineers from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and some of the agency's other field centers are looking into this and other novel launch systems based on cutting-edge technologies...."

"Novel" isn't the term the Lemming would use to describe rail-launched spaceships. The idea was off-the-shelf standard equipment for science fiction writers by the time Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation Fireball XL5 was patrolling Sector 25, back in the early sixties.

(If the style of Fireball XL5 looks familiar, it should: Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's better-known Thunderbirds returned to the screen recently. Fireball XL5 isn't forgotten, though. Science fiction fans Pauline & Robin Day created images inspired by the show.)

The difference between Fireball XL5 (1962 and When Worlds Collide (1951) is that they were fictional. Based more-or-less on solid theoretical work done earlier in the 20th century, yes.

But filmmakers and audiences both recognized them as 'science fiction.' The sort of thing that belonged in "The Future."

Fifty years later, "The Future" is here: and has been for a while. We don't have a helicopter in every garage, or atomic trains. (I'm not making that up.)

On the other hand, that unlikely device, the 1920 Newsophone, that delivered on-demand news stories, is in use today. The technology is a little different than Lewis Yeager's proposal, and you're using it right now: the Internet.

Back to those rail-launched spaceships that NASA is looking at. The Space.com article points out that the current research isn't aimed at replacing the shuttle fleet. At least, not yet. On the other hand:

"...Scramjet vehicles could be used as a basis for a commercial launch program if a company decided to take advantage of the basic research NASA performed along the way, Starr said.

"Starr and his engineering team propose a 10-year plan that would begin with launching a drone similar to those used in the ongoing Air Force tests. More-advanced models would then follow, with the goal of developing a vehicle that can launch a small satellite into orbit...."

Eventually - maybe what, 15 or 20 years from now? - we'll have regular flights to orbiting stations, the way we've got trans-Pacific flights today. Science fiction? When I was growing up, yes. Today: Bigelow Aerospace doesn't seem to think so.

---

More, in this blog:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Secret X-37B Space Plane and Amateur Astronomers

"Secret X-37B Space Plane Spotted by Amateur Skywatchers"
Space.com (May 22, 2010)

"While the U.S. Air Force is mum about the orbital whereabouts of its X-37B mini-space plane, a dedicated band of amateur skywatchers has got its cross-hairs on the spacecraft.

"The unpiloted X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 1 was lofted on April 22 atop an Atlas launcher. It is being flown under the auspices of the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.

"In U.S. military tracking parlance, when the space plane reached orbit it became identified as Catalog Number 36514, 2010-015A, OTV-1 (USA 212)...."

"...But thanks to a worldwide eyes-on-the-sky network of amateurs, the spacecraft is reportedly in a 39.99 degrees inclination, circling the Earth in an orbit 401 kilometers by 422 kilometers. This data may change slightly as the vehicle's orbit is better refined, said Greg Roberts of Cape Town, South Africa, a pioneer in using telescopic video cameras to track spacecraft, chalking up exceptional results over the years...."

Looks like the X-37B launch went off on schedule. The Space.com article gives a pretty good set of information on the test flight, and what the robotic spaceplane will probably be used for.

Some of the article's written, I think, more for the amateur astronomer - or for folks who are interested in amateur astronomy. The Lemming fits into that category. I've been out on observing sessions: but I'd much rather read about using telescopes than stand out in a Minnesota field, trying to use one.

It's a pretty good writeup of this test flight of a 'secret' Air Force vehicle. Although for a 'secret' project, there's been an awful lot of publicity. I've posted about this before. Fairly often, I see.

Related posts:

• "X-37B Test Flight Scheduled For Tomorrow: Robots, Spaceships, and Feeling Safe"
  (April 21, 2010)
• "X-37B / Orbital Test Vehicle Robot Spaceplane Now an Air Force Project"
  (April 5, 2010)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades

A few months ago, I put together a link list of posts about developments in spaceflight. Not so much the esoteric search for knowledge of the cosmos, as crew-optional cargo ships for the Earth-orbit run; orbiting commercial facilities; Tourism beyond Earth's atmosphere, and spaceports.

That was "Humanity in Space: Looking at the Big Picture" (January 29, 2010). "Big Picture" included a very quick look at space agencies around the world, and a video tour of the International Space Station.

Power Stations in Space, Lunar Mining: It's Real

I'll be adding links to posts about space-related technology, transportation, military and business developments:

• "Asteroid Miners"
  (January 25, 2013)
• "'One Small Hop for a Grasshopper...' SpaceX's Reusable Rocket"
  (December 28, 2012)
• "SpaceX's Dragon Cargo Ship Returns"
  (June 1, 2012)
• "The Dragon Flies: SpaceX Photo, and Some Drawings"
  (May 25, 2012)
• "Skylon Spaceplane's New Engine Test; Old Video; Passenger Module"
  (April 30, 2012)
• "There's Nickle in Them There Asteroids"
  (April 23, 2012)
• "Spaceplanes: Seven Decades, One Infographic, and a Hopeful Lemming"
  (July 23, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Era Ends: 'It's On to the Next Adventure' "
  (July 21, 2011)
• "McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper: First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Freighter - Almost"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle: Three Decades of Flights; and looking from Silbervogel to the Stars"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "Atlantis: 'Inspirational,' the Last of Its Kind (and what's next)"
  (July 8, 2011)
• "British Spaceplane Engine Test Coming in June"
  (May 6, 2011)
• "April 12, 1961, and Yuri Gagarin: the Lemming's Take"
  (April 12, 2011)
• "High-Tech Steam Gun to Mars: No Kidding"
  (April 8, 2011)
• "Space Junk, Lasers, and Diplomacy"
  (March 21, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Discovery: 27 Years, Last Flight Done"
  (March 9, 2011)
• "ISS Storage Room, a Video, and Hair"
  (March 2, 2011)
• "Four Ships Docked at the ISS"
  (February 28, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Infographic: From Steering Thrusters to Rudder/Speed Brake"
  (January 31, 2011)
• "International Space Station: Not Many Amenities, But What a View!"
  (January 26, 2011)
• "NanoSail-D: Maybe It's Working, Maybe Not"
  (December 12, 2010)
• "X-37B Back on Earth: Photos, Facts, and the Lemming"
  (December 3, 2010)
• " 'Today the Sun, Tomorrow the Stars?' Weird-But-True Legal Claim"
  (November 27, 2010)
• "Discovery Launch: Hydrogen Leak, Cracks, and Canvas Sails"
  (November 24, 2010)
• "Hyperbole, Business, and a Spaceship Factory"
  (November 19, 2010)
• "3-D Printer in Space: Seems to Make Sense"
  (November 11, 2010)
• "Bigelow Aerospace, Private Space Station, International Enterprise"
  (October 20, 2010)
• "SpaceShipTwo's Quarter-Hour Glide"
  (October 11, 2010)
• "Teachers in Space! Almost. Sort of."
  (October 8, 2010)
• "Russia Will Have First* Commercial Space Station"
  (September 29, 2010)
• "Last Flights of the First Space Freighters, New Construction at Spaceports"
  (September 23, 2010)
• "Spaceships Launched on Rails: Not-So-New Idea Proposed"
  (September 15, 2010)
• "Commercial Flight to Mars: Maybe, in 15 Years or So"
  (September 1, 2010)
• "Asteroid Mission 'Plymouth Rock:' Catchy Name, Practical Technology"
  (August 31, 2010)
• "NASA's Six-Legged Roving Lunar Base"
  (August 19, 2010)
• "Repair Job on the International Space Station"
  (August 2, 2010)
• "Farms: On the Moon? Quite Likely"
  (July 29, 2010)
• "European Space Agency Inheriting Huge Satellite, and Trouble to Match"
  (July 27, 2010)
• "60 Years Plus One Day at the Cape"
  (July 25, 2010)
• "Boeing CST-100 Spaceship: Passenger Service to ISS, Commercial Space Stations"
  (July 21, 2010)
• "Proposed Commission for Planetary Defense: H.R. 5587 Makes Sense"
  (July 20, 2010)
• "Space Tourism and Virgin Galactic: Another Step"
  (July 17, 2010)
• "Free Fall for the Fourth of July"
  (July 2, 2010)
• "JAXA's Ikaros Sets Sail for Venus"
  (June 19, 2010)
• "X-51A Waverider: It's Just the Beginning"
  (June 18, 2010)
• "Taxi to the Stars, No: To Earth Orbit, Soon"
  (June 5, 2010)
• "X-51 Scramjet Test: Over Three Minutes of Hypersonic Flight"
  (May 28, 2010)
• "Secret X-37B Space Plane and Amateur Astronomers"
  (May 23, 2010)
• "Falcon Test Flight Next Week: Or, Not"
  (May 21, 2010)
• "Last Space Shuttle Launch: More of a Beginning, Than an End"
  (May 14, 2010)
• "Asteroids and Earth: Time for the Space Patrol?"
  (May 2, 2010)
• "X-37B Test Flight Scheduled For Tomorrow: Robots, Spaceships, and Feeling Safe"
  (April 21, 2010)
• "Space Marines: Really"
  (April 18, 2010)
• "X-37B / Orbital Test Vehicle Robot Spaceplane Now an Air Force Project"
  (April 5, 2010)
• "Hypersonic Transports: Not Yet, But They're Coming"
  (March 30, 2010)
  • A few modifications, and these could 'fly' to orbit and back
• "X-51 Waverider, Bullet Trains: Change Happens"
  (March 11, 2010)
• "Sailing on Sunlight"
  (November 11, 2009)
• "Hypersonic Vehicles: Waveriders to Space"
  (November 2, 2009)
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019"
  (March 12, 2009)
• "Blue Origin: Another Company Building Spaceships"
  (February 27, 2010)
• "Goodbye Shuttle, Hello Falcon"
  (February 20, 2010)
• "Photovoltaic Nanotech: Solar Power, Cheap(er)"
  (February 18, 2010)
• "Humanity in Space: Looking at the Big Picture"
  (January 29, 2010)
• "Spaceport America: More Progress"
  (January 29, 2010)
• "Bullet Trains in America: United States Transportation Enters the 20th Century (It's About Time)"
  (January 28, 2010)
• "Bigelow Aerospace: Space to Rent or Lease, in Orbit"
  (January 20, 2010)
• "America's Seventh Spaceport"
  (January 19, 2010)
• "Crew-Optional Dragon Cargo Ship Ready for Testing Soon"
  (December 16, 2009)
• "ISS Space Station Walkthrough, Looking Ahead"
  (October 28, 2009)
• "NASA's X-37 Project, New Technologies, and - EEEK! the Military!!"
  (October 23, 2009)
• "New Rocket Fuel: Aluminum and - - - Water?!"
  (October 21, 2009)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "A Freighter Unloads its Cargo: What's the Big Deal?"
  (September 20, 2009)
• "Alan Stern and Space Tourism"
  (July 18, 2009)
• "Power Stations in Space: California Caught On"
  (April 20, 2009)
• "Spaceport America: It's Real, and Open for Business"
  (October 26, 2008)
• "Spaceship to the Moon: This One's from India"
  (October 22, 2008)
• "Bigelow Aerospace Space Habitat Prototype Passes Milestone"
  (May 12, 2008)
• "Coming Soon to a Spaceport Near You"
  (March 26, 2008)

Posts about what's a bit further over the horizon:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Centuries "

X-37B Test Flight Scheduled For Tomorrow: Robots, Spaceships, and Feeling Safe

---

Update (December 4, 2010)

• "X-37B Back on Earth: Photos, Facts, and the Lemming"
  (December 3, 2010)

---

"Experimental X-37B Robot Space Plane to Launch Thursday "
Space.com (April 20, 2010)

"The United States Air Force plans to launch its first robotic X-37B space plane Thursday on a mission that is a forerunner of things to come. A second mini-space plane is already under contract and is projected to be launched next year.

"New details regarding the mini-space plane and its upcoming Thursday liftoff atop an Atlas 5 booster were discussed today during a U.S. Air Force-held media press briefing.

"The X-37B vehicle's history stretches back to the late 90s, with NASA kick-starting the project. It was later picked up by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and ultimately found a home within the Air Force. The project is now under the wing of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. [X-37B spacecraft photos.]..."

Back in the fifties and sixties, quite a few people predicted that we'd have spaceships by the 21st century. What just about everybody missed was how many of those spaceships would be robots. Not piloted by robots, or with robots in the crew: spacecraft that were robots.

The X-37B is more of a reentry vehicle than a spaceship, but I think you get the idea.

The Space.com article does a pretty good job of summarizing what the XB-37B project is, and how it got to being ready for a test flight.

It's a test vehicle for a larger space plane: one that could carry people. But the XB-37B is also designed to get a little work done while developers learn what works- and what doesn't.

"...The small X-37B spacecraft resembles a miniature space shuttle and is equipped with its own payload bay about the size of a pickup truck bed – ample space to hold a couple of small satellites that are a few hundred kilograms each, [U.S. Air Force Deputy Under Secretary for Space Programs Gary] Payton noted.

"According to released specifications, the X-37B space plane weighs about 11,000 pounds and is just over 29 feet in length. It stands slightly more than 9 1/2 feet in height and has a wingspan just over 14 feet across.

"The initial X-37B flight is designed to loiter in space up to 270 days. After retracting its solar array and closing payload doors, the space plane would re-enter in automated mode...."

I don't have the fear that some folks had, of robot vehicles with no human hand at the controls. There are circumstances where I'd feel a lot safer, knowing that my life wasn't in the hands of some dude in the front.

Personal Reminiscence: Which Has a (Very) Little to do With the XB-37B

The automated BART trains made the news while I was living in San Francisco. The BART system pays guys to stand in the control room that's currently at at the 'front' of the train. Mostly, I suspect, to help nervous passengers feel safer.

Anyway, the 'driver' is supposed to let the train know when he's leaving the cab.

This dude noticed some kids playing with the doors of the train. So he left the cab, and the train, walked back and asserted his authority with the kids. (That's one reason for having a human around, BTW: but someone on the platform could have done the job.)

Then the train, not realizing that a token human wasn't in the cab, left the station. With the 'driver' running along the platform, trying to catch up.

No, I do not necessarily feel safer with a human at the controls.

Related posts:

• "Space Marines: Really"
  (April 18, 2010)
• "X-37B / Orbital Test Vehicle Robot Spaceplane Now an Air Force Project"
  (April 5, 2010)
• "X-51 Waverider, Bullet Trains: Change Happens"
  (March 11, 2010)
• "Crew-Optional Dragon Cargo Ship Ready for Testing Soon"
  (December 16, 2009)
• "Flight 188, Distracted Pilots, and Dangerously Impractical Software?"
  (November 27, 2009)
  • The autopilot was fine
    • But not authorized to land
  • At issue was software on the pilot's laptops
• "NASA's X-37 Project, New Technologies, and - EEEK! the Military!!"
  (October 23, 2009)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• " 'Hot Eagle:' the Space Marines Are Coming"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (October 19, 2008)

More:

• "Space Shuttle Jr."
  Air & Space, Smithsonian (January 1, 2010)
• "X-37 MSP Integrated Tech Testbed"
  Space, GlobalSecurity.org
• x37-facts.pdf
  NASA Facts (May 2003)
• x37-historical.pdf
  NASA Facts (September 2003)

Space Marines: Really

"The Very Real Plans to Put Marines in Space"
Popular Mechanics (undated, probably on or shortly before April 15, 2010)

"When then Marine Lieutenant Colone Roosevelt Lafontant first started pushing the idea of a space plane for the U.S. Marine Corps in 2002, skeptics didn't even bother to suppress their laughter. But now, with a Concept of Operations (CONOPS)—a formal military document that lays out how a particular weapon system would be used—and a completed, but not yet released Pentagon road map for the technology, people are beginning to take note of the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion, or SUSTAIN, the notional concept of a Marine space plane.

" 'Then the laughing subsided,' says Lafontant, who now works at Schafer Corporation. 'People were really talking about it, and then it got serious. Then we finally got a CONOPS; the laughter stopped completely, and people started jumping on the technology bandwagon.'

"After decades of unsuccessful development, military space planes are finally getting some respect. On April 19 the U.S. Air Force plans to launch the X-37B, an...."

As one of the comments on this article pointed out, the X-37B is old news. What's new is that bureaucratic business-as-usual has given way to serious development.

This is idle speculation on my part: but I wonder if someone cornered a brass hat and explained that it was either a matter of backing development of something like the X-37B, or renting spaceships from Virgin Galactic or Bigelow Aerospace when the things were needed.

I've suspected, from time to time, that some of America's senior military - and civilian - leaders are still adjusting to a world where the cavalry has wheels. And sometimes flies.

That's an exaggeration, I hope: but not, I sometimes fear, by much.

Anyway: the Popular Mechanics article gives a pretty good 'behind the scenes' look at what promoters of the X-37B project deal with. I see it as a sort of confrontation between people who think that moving the Marines into the 21st century is a good idea: and folks who don't realize that things have changed in the last several decades.

It's probably hard to keep up with things, when you're a busy executive. There is, seriously, an incredible amount of fiddling detail that people in leadership positions have to deal with. That can, I think, be a distraction.

Take me, for example: I'm pushing sixty, so if I'd pursued a 'success track,' I might have lost track of what's current, back in the early seventies.

That 'career-minded' alter ego of mine might be very surprised to look up from his desk today, and see that America has seven spaceports (so far). (January 19, 2010) And that a mid-seventies proposal for orbiting solar power stations is finally getting serious attention. (December 2, 2009)

Can't I'm sorry I made the choices I did.

Related posts:

• "X-37B / Orbital Test Vehicle Robot Spaceplane Now an Air Force Project"
  (April 5, 2010)
• "X-51 Waverider, Bullet Trains: Change Happens"
  (March 11, 2010)
• "Blue Origin: Another Company Building Spaceships"
  (February 27, 2010)
• "Humanity in Space: Looking at the Big Picture"
  (January 29, 2010)
• "Power Stations in Space: No Panacea; But No Kidding, Either"
  (December 2, 2009)
• "They're Birds! They're Planes! No, It's the SWAT Team!"
  (December 4, 2009)
• "NASA's X-37 Project, New Technologies, and - EEEK! the Military!!"
  (October 23, 2009)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• " 'Hot Eagle:' the Space Marines Are Coming"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (October 19, 2008)
• "Dubai Architecture: A Photo Gallery"
  (October 25, 2008)

---

More:

• "The Future: Just Like Today, Only Different "

---

A tip of the hat to USMC, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this article.

X-37B / Orbital Test Vehicle Robot Spaceplane Now an Air Force Project

"Air Force Space Plane to Launch After Long, Twisted Past"
Space.com (April 3, 2010)

"More than a decade after its conception in the halls of NASA, and having snaked its way through multiple Pentagon bureaucracies, an unmanned military spaceplane is finally on the verge of launching on an unprecendented [!] test flight.

"A stubby-winged spaceship called the Orbital Test Vehicle will fly into orbit on an Atlas 5 rocket, taking a round-trip shakedown voyage for the U.S. Air Force.

" 'What it offers that we have seldom had is the ability to bring back payloads and experiments to examine how well the experiments performed on-orbit,' said Gary Payton, the undersecretary of the Air Force for space programs. 'That's one new thing for us.'

"Payton, a former space shuttle flier and NASA manager, is now the Air Force's top civilian space official.

"Liftoff should occur the evening of April 19 in a launch window opening at 6:49 p.m. EDT and closing at 9:12 p.m. EDT, according to an Air Force spokesperson.

"Several weeks or months later, the spacecraft will drop into the atmosphere and glide to an automated landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. ..."

I wouldn't have used the word "twisted" myself - but then I've spent a noticeable fraction of my life dealing with government bureaucracies for one reason or another. What seems to have happened with the X-37B is that a project that's important - and expensive - has been shifted to agencies that had the budget to handle it.

Briefly, the Space.com article says that the Boeing X-37B started with NASA, was handed off to Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 2004 when NASA funding ran out - and then to the Air Force in 2006.

What the article does not say, thankfully, is that the X-37B/Orbital Test Vehicle is a complete waste of time: because it doesn't have any 'practical' applications. Unlike the Shuttle, it apparently won't carry payloads to the ISS or ferry people from place to place.

That's hardly surprising, since it's an experimental vehicle. It's function is to test new technologies - so that they can be used in RSVs (Reusable Launch Vehicles).

I think we'd get the job done by staying out of the way of outfits like Scaled Composites: but I'll concede that the NASA-DARPA-Air Force approach might get a spaceplane rolled out sooner.

And besides, it looks cool.

Related posts:

• "X-51 Waverider, Bullet Trains: Change Happens"
  (March 11, 2010)
• "Crew-Optional Dragon Cargo Ship Ready for Testing Soon"
  (December 16, 2009)
• "NASA's X-37 Project, New Technologies, and - EEEK! the Military!!"
  (October 23, 2009)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• " 'Hot Eagle:' the Space Marines Are Coming"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (October 19, 2008)

More:

• "Space Shuttle Jr."
  Air & Space, Smithsonian (January 1, 2010)
• "X-37 MSP Integrated Tech Testbed"
  Space, GlobalSecurity.org
• x37-facts.pdf
  NASA Facts (May 2003)
• x37-historical.pdf
  NASA Facts (September 2003)

Hypersonic Transports: Not Yet, But They're Coming

"New Hypersonic Rocket Test Launched in Australia"
Space.com (March 26, 2010)

"Australian and United States military scientists test launched a new hypersonic rocket this week, the latest in a string of demonstration flights aimed at developing ultra-fast supersonic aircraft.

"The test rocket streaked through the atmosphere at speeds of greater than Mach 5.5, which is equivalent to more than five times the speed of sound.

"The flight marked the second in a series of up to 10 planned flights designed to advance research on high-speed flights and hypersonic technology, said Greg Combet, Australia's Minister for Defense Personnel, Material and Science, in a Monday statement. An earlier test was performed last May...."

The idea is to eventually design and build vehicles that can fly at hypersonic speeds for extended periods of time. There's no reason, in theory, why we shouldn't be able to do that. There are fairly big engineering issues to work out - but that's being done now.

Eventually, something like what's shown in this animation might be as routine as transoceanic airline flights are today:

"Skylon Mission Animation"

deanfilip YouTube (February 07, 2009)
Credits: Reaction Engines Ltd.
video (8:17)
(embedded in "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019" (March 12, 2009))

Related posts:

• "X-51 Waverider, Bullet Trains: Change Happens"
  (March 11, 2010)
• "Hypersonic Vehicles: Waveriders to Space"
  (November 2, 2009)
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019"
  (March 12, 2009)

More:

• "The Future: Just Like Today, Only Different "

X-51 Waverider, Bullet Trains: Change Happens

"Air Force to Test New Hypersonic Aircraft"
Space.com (March 9, 2010)

"The U.S. Air Force is gearing up for the first of four planned test flights of a hypersonic aircraft designed to operate for much longer durations and cover far greater distances than previous platforms of its type.

"The maiden flight of the X-51 Waverider aircraft — the first U.S. hypersonic vehicle to fly in six years — is scheduled to take place later in March. Boeing Defense, Space & Security Systems of St. Louis has been developing the aircraft since 2003 on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

"The missile-shaped X-51 will be carried aloft under the wing of a B-52 bomber, Joe Vogel, Boeing's director of hypersonics, said in a Feb. 22 interview. It will be released from the jet over the Pacific Ocean and drop for four seconds until its rocket motor ignites and accelerates it to about 5,800 kilometers per hour, just shy of the widely accepted start of hypersonic flight at Mach 5, or about 6,100 kilometers per hour. At that point, its air-breathing scramjet — or supersonic combustion ramjet — engine, built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., will kick in, shooting the craft to Mach 6, or more than 7,400 kilometers per hour...."

We're not at the point where someone can board a shuttle in Florida, spend a weekend at the Bigelow-Hilton in low Earth orbit, and be in Tokyo Monday afternoon. But we're not that far away, either. Entrepreneurs are racing to get the first and/or best spaceliners built and flying, at least one other is looking at developing rental properties in low Earth orbit, and at last count America has seven spaceports up and running.

A couple years ago, I ran into a review of the "crazy" architectural projects in the construction or planning stages in Dubai: including a rendering of a spaceport with a sort of retro-fifties look to it. The caption read: "The UAE Spaceport would be the first spaceport in the world if construction ever gets under way. I'm not joking..."

In common with so many interesting pages on the Web, this one was undated. By the time I read it, in 2008, Spaceport America was in operation.

This is an exciting time to be alive: blink and you'll miss a major development.

Like America moving into the 20th century, with our first "bullet train." I'd be more impressed, if more countries weren't dealing with aging high-speed rail infrastructure by now, with China running maglev service in the Shanghai area. (January 28, 2010) Better late than never, I suppose.

Change Happens: Deal With It

"Nothing endures but change."
(Heraclitus, 540 BC - 480 BC)

I think Heraclitus has a point. Things don't stay just the way they were. I'm okay with that, but quite a few folks don't seem to be.

Others don't seem to have noticed what's happened in, say, the last half-century. That's understandable. Here in America, 宇宙航空研究開発機構 and इस पृष्ठ का हिन्दी अनुवाद don't get as much coverage as, say, pro basketball or the latest Congressional shenanigans.

That was (painfully) obvious, in one online discussion about the reorientation that NASA's going through. At least one of the people seemed to be under the impression that if an American federal agency stopped sending people into low Earth orbit, all of humanity was going to be Earthbound. (January 29, 2010)

Even in the sixties, the Soviet Union was quite active in developing Earth-to-orbit transportation systems. They had a different approach to engineering: but that's more a cultural thing, I think. The point is: America has never been mankind's only hope for space exploration.

I don't think it helped that at least one American subculture got very technophobic four or five decades back. Yes: we did need to get serious about pollution controls. But the feeling that big, bad technology (and *shudder* industrial anything) was going to destroy poor, frail, delicate little Mother Nature? I've written about that before. (December 20, 2009)

I like to think that America as a whole has sobered up, and is starting deal with a world where change happens: very fast, these days.

For a look at what people can do, when they're open to new ideas:

"maglev train shanghai complete video presentation"

wowiejunior, YouTube (June 8, 2006)
video, 5:35
(Originally embedded in "Bullet Trains in America: United States Transportation Enters the 20th Century (It's About Time)" (January 28, 2010))

A phrase from the video's (English) narration, "...a city with a proud tradition, but always open to the new...." presents an idea I think Americans could seriously consider.

Related posts:

• "Blue Origin: Another Company Building Spaceships"
  (February 27, 2010)
• "Humanity in Space: Looking at the Big Picture"
  (January 29, 2010)
• "Bigelow Aerospace: Space to Rent or Lease, in Orbit"
  (January 20, 2010)
• "America's Seventh Spaceport"
  (January 19, 2010)
• "They're Birds! They're Planes! No, It's the SWAT Team!"
  (December 4, 2009)
• "Power Stations in Space: No Panacea; But No Kidding, Either"
  (December 2, 2009)
• "Hypersonic Vehicles: Waveriders to Space"
  (November 2, 2009)
• "NASA's X-37 Project, New Technologies, and - EEEK! the Military!!"
  (October 23, 2009)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "Alan Stern and Space Tourism"
  (July 18, 2009)
• "Groundbreaking at Spaceport America: World's First Purpose-Built Commercial Spaceport"
  (June 20, 2009)
• " 'Hot Eagle:' the Space Marines Are Coming"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (October 19, 2008)
• "Dubai Architecture: A Photo Gallery"
  (October 25, 2008)

---

More:

• "The Future: Just Like Today, Only Different "

Spaceport America: More Progress

"America's 1st Commercial Spaceport Blooms in the Desert"
Space.com (January 28, 2010)



(from Spaceport America Conceptual Images URS/Foster + Partners, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

"New Mexico's Spaceport America is no longer the stuff of fancy graphics.

"The scene is now one of bulldozers and other heavy equipment. Loads of asphalt and concrete are being spread. The initial phase of building the rambling complex within remote desert scenery is quickening.

"One could easily call it 'hard hat heaven' for those that have pushed for Spaceport America's development over many years.

"Spaceport America, billed as the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport, is taking shape some 30 miles (48 km) east of Truth or Consequences and 45 miles (72 km) north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

"A critical centerpiece of Spaceport America is putting in place a runway to space. Measuring 10,000 feet long by 200 feet wide that stretch of tarmac is designed to handle horizontal launch space and air operations at the spaceport...."

Coming Soon: A Spaceport Near You

What I say next may be deeply offensive and hurtful:

On the whole, I'm rather glad that I'm an American, and am very pleased that this country is building spaceports.

If I have cause emotional pain and anguish by writing that, I'm sorry.

I've learned that, in some American subcultures, Americans aren't supposed to be proud to be Americans. It makes people who aren't American feel bad, I gather.

I think that people aren't anywhere near that thin-skinned. (Oops! Is writing that a no-no, too?) But, I've been wrong before.

If you don't live in or near America, my guess is that a spaceport will be under construction in your general before much more time passes. China, Japan, and India have fairly robust space program. (October 22, 2008, and check out "Related posts" below)

And other countries have been active in the area, too. My guess is that it'll take a generation or more for everybody to get up to speed - Somalia, for example, isn't in the best shape, economically or otherwise, right now.

But as the technologies mature, costs go down, and reasons to invest in space transportation services grow: I see spaceports being as common, soon, as airports are now.

Disco's Dead: Spaceflight Isn't

I ran into this, at the end of a column in the newest Sky and & Telescope magazine. The writer was reviewing his early dreams of space travel and what enterprises like Virgin Galactic are doing today.

"...If the initial flights are successful, the price will come down, more craft will follow, and space exploration will become increasingly democratized. After these suborbital forays will come orbital craft, space hotels, and private expeditions to the Moon and beyond.Maybe I was too quick to shelve my personal vision of space travel...The dormant dreams of my youth are stirring once again."
(Cosmic Relief, David Grinspoon, Sky and Telescope, Vol. 119 No. 3, p. 18)

Related posts:

• "Bigelow Aerospace: Space to Rent or Lease, in Orbit"
  (January 20, 2010)
• "America's Seventh Spaceport"
  (January 19, 2010)
• "Crew-Optional Dragon Cargo Ship Ready for Testing Soon"
  (December 16, 2009)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "Groundbreaking at Spaceport America: World's First Purpose-Built Commercial Spaceport"
  (June 20, 2009)