DocM Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Info and rumors are flying left & right in the space community, but it looks like an effort is being mounted by private investors to fund and build a next-generation space shuttle with "similar capabilities" to the retired STS but fully modern. No NASA involvement or US Govt. funding. The initial effort was looking to purchase the shuttle(s) Atlantis and/or Endeavour for the effort, but due to their sale and decommissioning that wasn't going to happen. To have similar capabilities it would have to carry a crew, have an EVA airlock, loft ~20 metric tons in a payload bay and have a robotic arm. One would think this means a spaceplane, but that's not necessarily the case. Obviously not too many details have been released, but a formal program announcement is expected in Q2 of 2012. The known people involved are impressive and includes Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar of Dittmar Associates (Houston TX) and The American Astronautical Society. In a previous life she was Chief Scientist and Senior Program Manager for Boeing's Commercial Space Utilization Program, and Manager of the Flight Operations Group of the International Space Station. She's also a Fellow of the United States National Research Society and a member of the Economics Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Whatever this is it'll be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom1981 Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 The problem I see is SpaceX if the test of the drgon capsule goes without any problems , it will be very hard to get business for this new shuttle with spacex actually up and running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Dragon and the other CCDev competitors do not have airlocks or robotic arms (yet), and most certainly cannot carry the mass to be "similar" to the shuttle. The SNC Dream Chaser has one variant that if made would have an airlock, a small cargo bay and small arm, but it too wouldn't meet the "similar" criteria for payload size or mass. To bring this kind of capability to service with capsules like Dragon or CST-100 would require a separate module that adds the other capabilities and could re-enter on its own (too much $$$$ hardware to toss), which would be both expensive and seem to be a violation of the KISS principle. My list of "possibles" would include an up-sized X-37 style vehicle or the HL-42, which was to be the bigger brother of HL-20 - the canceled NASA project that became SNC's Dream Chaser. (HL-20/Dream Chaser left. HL-42 right) Left field option: a Venture Star-like SSTO vehicle (Venture Star is center. Left is the X-33 testbed) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoadorable Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 oh man Doc i have to reach for the Kleenex when i look at those pics, i sure hope you're right and Venture Star is coming back! this is what we need people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts