Alternative 1.
Feb. 21st, 2009 06:30 amSee America? NASA? This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about:
Meet the Eu's Skylon project.
Advantages?
Reusable. No little capsule that has to be rebuilt completely each flight due to landing damage.
CARGO SPACE. Can actually do more than crowd three passengers into a cramped cabin.
In fact, that's the whole point of this spaceplane: getting payloads up to orbit, and then coming back down for more. Say it with me folks: SPACETRUCK.
What do we get with designs like this? Orbital stations. Regular hauling of materials and gods for construction. The ability to take prebuilt modules up for quick assembly in space. In short, it's a leg up on a Mars project, so long as the materials and supplies to keep payloads moving doesn't run out.
The bad side? It's still in design stages. Which means it'll be likely to be scrapped before it sees completion. However the ESA did just award them 1 million euros to go towards this project, so it may be closer than we think.
Meet the Eu's Skylon project.
Advantages?
Reusable. No little capsule that has to be rebuilt completely each flight due to landing damage.
CARGO SPACE. Can actually do more than crowd three passengers into a cramped cabin.
In fact, that's the whole point of this spaceplane: getting payloads up to orbit, and then coming back down for more. Say it with me folks: SPACETRUCK.
What do we get with designs like this? Orbital stations. Regular hauling of materials and gods for construction. The ability to take prebuilt modules up for quick assembly in space. In short, it's a leg up on a Mars project, so long as the materials and supplies to keep payloads moving doesn't run out.
The bad side? It's still in design stages. Which means it'll be likely to be scrapped before it sees completion. However the ESA did just award them 1 million euros to go towards this project, so it may be closer than we think.
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