Rocket Science: Wings Added

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Spaceplanes Matthew A. Bentley Spaceplanes From Airport to Spaceport Matthew A. Bentley Rock River WY, USA ISBN: 978-0-387-76509-9 e-ISBN: 978-0-387-76510-5 DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-76510-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008939140 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper springer.com This book is dedicated to the interna- tional crews of the world’s first two operational spaceplanes, Columbia and Challenger, who bravely gave their lives in the quest for new knowledge. Challenger Francis R. Scobee Michael J. Smith Ellison S. Onizuka Ronald E. McNair Judith A. Resnik S. Christa McAuliffe Gregory B. Jarvis Columbia Richard D. Husband William C. McCool Michael P. Anderson Ilan Ramon Kalpana Chawla David M. Brown Laurel Clark Contents Preface. xi 1 Rocketplanes at the Airport . 1 The Wright Flyer. 2 Rocket Men. 4 Silbervogel: The Silverbird. 5 German Rocket Gliders. 7 American Rocketplanes . 8 The Bell X-1 (1946–1958) . 8 The Douglas Skyrocket (1948–1956) . 10 The Bell X-2 Starbuster (1952–1956). 11 NASA Lifting Bodies . 14 Today’s Rocketplanes . 17 XCOR Aerospace EZ-Rocket. 18 XCOR X-Racer. 20 References. 21 2 Why Spaceplanes? . 23 Space Tourism. 23 Superior Vehicle . 26 Basic Comparisons . 27 Energy . 27 Reusability . 28 Refuelability . 30 Efficiency . 30 Safety . 31 Simplicity . 32 Operational Superiority. 34 Versatility and Infrastructure. 34 Ballistic Refuse . 35 Conclusion . 36 References. 37 vii viii Contents 3 Rocket Science: Wings Added . 39 The Airplane . 40 The Rocket . 43 The Rocket Equation. 45 Staging . 46 The Challenge of the Spaceplane . 46 A Hybrid Is Born . 49 4 Missiles and Modules. 51 Historical Rockets. 51 Types of Rockets. 53 Modular Spacecraft. 56 Rockets vs. Spaceplanes . 61 Spaceplanes to the Moon . 65 Spaceplanes to Mars? . 66 References. 67 5 Crawling into Suborbit: The Baby Spaceplane. 69 The Mercury Redstone . 70 The North American X-15 . 72 Costs vs. Benefits . 78 Launch Methods . 78 Safety . 79 The Tourism Market . 80 References. 81 6 Going Ballistic . 83 Ballistic Background. 83 Dyna-Soar (1957–1963) . 86 Hermes (1987–1993) . 87 HOPE (1992–2003) . 88 Kliper (2004–present) . 89 Why No Go? . 89 References. 91 7 Piggyback to Orbit. 93 The Space Shuttle . 94 Challenger. 96 Columbia. 98 Lessons Learned . 99 Buran. 100 Contents ix Ascender . 101 Spacecab and Spacebus. 102 References. 103 8 Advanced Propulsion. 105 The Aerospike Engine. 105 Ramjets and Scramjets . ..

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