Canadian Company Developing New Space Shuttle

Archimboldo writes "CNN is carrying an article on the development of a new space shuttle design by Ontario's PlanetSpace called the Silver Dart, which is based on the U.S. Air Force's Flight Dynamics Laboratory-7 (FDL-7) program. Advantages over the aging Shuttle design include an all metal exterior for all-weather re-entry, twice the shuttle's lift coefficient at sub-sonic speeds, a lighter inner body, and newer electronics." The company has high hopes of snagging some of the space tourism market along with grabbing some of the resupply missions to the ISS.

Comments

Re:Is it cost-effective?

[Vo0k]

So adding extra safety checks and multipling the redundancy in a failed design has proven to be a wrong approach. What's the right approach? Redesigning the device almost from scratch, then making it safe not by adding devices minimizing damages in case of failure but by reducing the chances of failure by rugged, simple, fault-proof design, then proving it's safe by lots of successful cargo flights ("lots of" possible only when profitable = inexpensive).

Instead of providing a fault-prone original and 3 spares plus a system to automatically switch between them provide one original that won't break no matter what. Nobody builds a second bridge below a bridge so in case the bridge collapses, people won't drown but will land on the second bridge among the rubble. You just build a bridge that will withstand multiples of the maximum weight it would ever carry.