t/Space drop tests booster models
Posted: Wed, Jun 15, 2005, 8:22 AM ET (1222 GMT)
Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space) announced Tuesday that it has successfully completed a series of drop tests of a scale model of a booster that the company proposes to use to launch manned spacecraft into orbit. The three drop tests, carried out by t/Space and its partner, Scaled Composites between May 24 and June 14, involved a 23-percent scale model of the booster, carried aloft and then released from underneath Scaled's Proteus aircraft. The tests successfully demonstrated a release technique that allows the booster to tilt to the vertical after release and fire its engines while behind the carrier aircraft, a system t/Space says is safer than horizontally air-launched vehicles like Pegasus and SpaceShipOne, and eliminates the need for wings. t/Space has proposed using a full-sized version of the booster to a launch the Crew Transfer Vehicle (CXV), a four-person spacecraft that the company has offered to develop for NASA to fulfill the needs of the Vision for Space Exploration.
Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space) announced Tuesday that it has successfully completed a series of drop tests of a scale model of a booster that the company proposes to use to launch manned spacecraft into orbit. The three drop tests, carried out by t/Space and its partner, Scaled Composites between May 24 and June 14, involved a 23-percent scale model of the booster, carried aloft and then released from underneath Scaled's Proteus aircraft. The tests successfully demonstrated a release technique that allows the booster to tilt to the vertical after release and fire its engines while behind the carrier aircraft, a system t/Space says is safer than horizontally air-launched vehicles like Pegasus and SpaceShipOne, and eliminates the need for wings. t/Space has proposed using a full-sized version of the booster to a launch the Crew Transfer Vehicle (CXV), a four-person spacecraft that the company has offered to develop for NASA to fulfill the needs of the Vision for Space Exploration.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Saturday, September 13
SpaceX, Northrop Grumman to launch supplies to ISS
Spectrum News — 5:52 am ET (0952 GMT) Cornell-led space tech startup acquired by Pasteur Labs
Cornell Univ. — 5:51 am ET (0951 GMT) How China Is Transforming Space Power
The Diplomat — 5:46 am ET (0946 GMT) Two billionaires have very different — and equally wild — visions of a future in space. Is either possible?
CNN — 5:43 am ET (0943 GMT) Rare photos show 'deeply personal' moments in space
BBC — 5:36 am ET (0936 GMT) |
