Foreign spaceplane concepts
Abstract
As the 21st century approaches, and the 40th anniversary of the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth, an economical, routine system of transport to LEO is still sought. Twenty-two concepts are discussed that have originated in six national organizations, with perhaps three times as many individual nations participating. There is no single approach toward achieving scheduled service to LEO, because the imperatives of purpose and schedule drive different developments. What follows categorizes the 22 separate spaceplane concepts into 6 broad goals and objectives. This was done from observations, discussions, and available literature.
- Publication:
-
AIAA, Space Programs and Technologies Conference
- Pub Date:
- September 1990
- Bibcode:
- 1990aiaa.confY....C
- Keywords:
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- Aerospace Planes;
- Earth Orbital Environments;
- International Cooperation;
- Aircraft Configurations;
- Launch Vehicle Configurations;
- Launch Vehicles and Space Vehicles