XCOR Makes a Rocket-Powered Touch-and-Go

wronkiew writes "XCOR Aerospace made a touch-and-go with their experimental rocket powered airplane (see their announcement). The pilot was Dick Rutan, of Voyager fame. Aviation enthusiasts may be familiar with the touch-and-go, but for the uninitiated, this maneuver involves landing an airplane and then taking off again while still on the runway. Note that other rocket-powered vehicles require that the engine be dismantled before they are flown again. While their craft is not exactly a spaceship, it is good to hear of some progress in rocketplanes since the demise of the X-33."

Comments

Re:Definition of rocket?

[WolfWithoutAClause]

The main difference is that a jet engine has a rotating fan/compressor down the center. A rocket engine doesn't necessarily have a pump at all; although they usually do, but it's separate. Rocket engines are much more powerful, lighter, and more efficient (bizarely enough.)

A rocket engine consists of a combustion chamber with a nozzle attached (usually a converging/diverging nozzle called a DeLaval nozzle). Rocket engines need not have any moving parts, although in practice they usually do have some for control purposes.

TSTO vs SSTO Re:SSTO the key to space

[WolfWithoutAClause]

SSTO will probably work. But the big question is whether it will be cheaper or not. It looks right now that the consensus is no, and TSTO (Two Stage To Orbit) is the way to go for lower cost.

However SSTO has advantages too, lower cost isn't everything. SSTO may be more reliable, because there's less to go wrong; and it may have a lower turn-around time because you don't have to reassemble the vehicles each time. But on the other hand SSTO rockets are lighter, and that means the materials can be nearer to the edge and more likely to fail. We won't know how it comes out on balance until both have been achieved and a few thousand launches are past.