Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T22:39:10.327Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The prospects for European aerospace transporters - Part II: A design concept for a minimum-cost aerospace transporter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

D. M. Ashford  and
P. Q. Collins
P. Q. Collins
Affiliation:
The Management School, Imperial College, London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This is the second part of a paper on aerospace transporters (i.e. fully reusable aeroplane-like piloted launch vehicles) and describes a design concept intended to meet short-term European requirements at minimum development cost. It is generally similar to the European aerospace transporters studied in the 1960s but uses technology developed since then for such projects as Concorde, Spacelab, Ariane and the Space Shuttle.

It is concluded that such a vehicle could be built with more or less existing technology, and, using the costing approach described in the first part of the paper, that the development cost should be less than that of the semi-reusable Hermes/ Ariane 5 combination. A full feasibility study is recommended to check these conclusions.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 93 , Issue 922 , February 1989 , pp. 39 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1989 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Ashford, D. M., Spacecab II - a small shuttle. Spaceflight, January 1985.Google Scholar
2. H., Deplante and Perrier, P. A French Concept for an Aerospace Transporter, Avions Marcel Dassault, SAE paper 670388, 1967.Google Scholar
3. Moise, J. C, Henry, C. S. and Swanson, R. S., The Astroplane Concept, Astronaut Aeronaut, January 1964.Google Scholar
4. Smith, T. W. An approach to economic space transportation, J R Aeronaut Soc, August 1966, 70, (668), 802–810.Google Scholar
5. Root, M. W. and Fuller, G. M. The Astro Concept, Astronaut Aeronaut, January 1964.Google Scholar