ROOM
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Astronautics
be needed to come close to these standards.
However, early spaceplanes would still be safer and
far less expensive than expendable launchers so
initial models could be put into service for non-
passenger missions such as launching satellites,
supplying space stations and space agency human
spaceflight until the operating experience required
for passenger carrying is gained.
Spaceplane history
The extraordinary situation that space transportation
has reached can be explained by looking at the history
of spaceflight. The first satellites in the 1950s were
launched using converted ballistic missiles, as these
were the first objects able to reach space. However,
ballistic missiles can fly only once, and it was soon
recognised that having to use a new vehicle for each
flight could never become economical.
By the 1960s, large aircraft companies in Europe
and the USA such as British Aircraft Corporation,
Boeing, Dassault, Hawker Siddeley, Lockheed, Martin
and others, were studying orbital spaceplanes in
depth. The consensus was that such a development
was the obvious next step and that it was just about
feasible with the technology of the day.
Spaceplanes were not developed at the time
because the ‘space race’ to the Moon, driven by
the Cold War soaked up the available funding. The
aircraft company design teams were allowed to
disband and the lobby for an aviation approach to
space transportation was gravely weakened.
There was a second opportunity to build a true
spaceplane in the mid-1970s, when the early designs
of the Space Shuttle were indeed fully reusable.
However, President Nixon imposed a budget cut and
NASA could no longer afford their large reusable
design. To stay within budget, they had a choice.
They could maintain the size but give up on full
reusability, or build a much smaller true spaceplane
along the lines of several of the 1960s designs with a
payload of one or two tonnes instead of the planned
25-30 tonnes.
By then, the habit of expendability was so
strong that NASA opted to take the former course.
The resulting Shuttle was mostly expendable
and therefore just as expensive and risky as the
throwaway vehicles that preceded it. This decision
probably held up low-cost access to space by at least
three decades.
Since then NASA has not entirely abandoned
spaceplanes. It spent a few billion dollars on two
projects, the X-30 National Aero-Space Plane
(NASP) and the X-33, which were of single-stage
configuration and hence so advanced for the period
that they had to be abandoned. It is unlikely that
achieved a safety level of about 100 launches per
fatal accident. Such poor safety records are almost
inevitable with throwaway launchers and the level
contrasts with the more than one million flights per
fatal accident achieved by scheduled airlines.
To achieve the required safety level, the first
orbital airliner should be as much like today’s
airliners as practicable, because these are the safest
flying machines yet invented. It should therefore be
piloted and have wings for taking off and landing
using runways. This configuration would also be
more attractive to passengers than landing vertically
on a pad.
The spaceplane that will usher in the new space
age will have two stages and will be designed for
‘safety soon’. It will be piloted and have wings for
conventional take-off and landing.
Surprisingly, perhaps, the spaceplane design
model that could revolutionise spaceflight and
herald a new space age is similar to many of the
reusable launcher designs of the 1960s. Currently
there is only one such orbital airliner offering all of
these features - the ‘Spacebus’ concept developed by
my own company, Bristol Spaceplanes.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Spacebus is
that prototypes can be built with proven technology.
All the individual technologies needed for the 1960s
spaceplane designs have since flown in other projects.
What would then have been a feasible but difficult
project would now be reasonably straightforward for
a large or medium-sized aircraft company.
Such prototypes would inevitably fall far short
of airliner standards of structural life, turnaround
time and maintenance cost; several years of
operating service and product improvement would
To achieve the
new space
age sooner
rather than
later, we need
to use existing
technology
as far as is
practicable
The Bristol Spaceplanes
Spacebus - designed to be
the first orbital airliner. It
has two stages, both of
which are piloted, features
needed to achieve a safe
vehicle soon.
