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ESA Complete Spaceplane Test Flight; IXV Safely Returns To Earth
hypnosec writes The European Space Agency has successfully completed the first test flight of its Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), as planned, wherein it saw the wingless spaceplane land in one piece in the Pacific Ocean. A Vega VV04 rocket took the IXV to an altitude of 340 km, from which it separated and continued up to 412 km. Reentering from this suborbital path, it recorded a vast amount of data from more than 300 advanced and conventional sensors. According to ESA the spaceplane few east around the globe during its descent and finally landed safely in the the Pacific Ocean west of the Galapagos Islands at about 15:20 GMT.
This just seems to be a different shape for a re-entry capsule more so then a plane. It uses a parachute and splashes down in water.
Orbital isn't about how high the highest point of your trajectory is. It is about how high the lowest point of your trajectory is. In other words: at its lowest point, does it clear the planet or crash into it?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
you can have the altitude and still not be orbital. Orbital means you have the lateral velocity to never fall back down. the ISS is moving around the earth at 7.66mm/s which makes it fall around the earth in an orbit. This craft's velocity was close (7.5 km/s) but the flight profile was designed to be non orbital, while achieving speeds close enough to orbital to accurately test the re-entry procedures. its all about how fast you are going, and in what direction.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
Most of the agencies you listed cooperate with one another, but I totally agree that the more the merrier. Great to see the Europeans excited about space travel, and spending time and money on making vehicles cheaper.
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In a couple of years NASA will have access to 2 operational manned vehicles. I don't think any other space agency in history has had two different manned launch vehicles operational at once.
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From the TFS:
"Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV)"
Its not model number. Its abbreviation.
The US has several manned programs in "testing". There is NASA's own Orion, which has flown unmanned, and should be ready to carry people in about 6 years. Boeing and Bigelow have the CST-100, which has not flown yet - but is scheduled to be crewed in late 2017. Furthest along is probably SpaceX, with their Dragon V2, scheduled to be crewed in early 2017. The last two options are particularly exciting, since they promise to cut the cost of getting an astronaut to the space station by up to 2/3 compared to a Soyuz launch.
We are still recovering from the lack of development that occurred when NASA was using every dime to fly the space shuttle and construct the space station.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Lack of good intelligence helped start the nuclear arms race. We took Kruschev at his word regarding his missile program without understanding the full implications of the blusterous comments he was making.
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Well, that sorta works for Douglas Adams.
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Boeing and Bigelow have the CST-100, which has not flown yet - but is scheduled to be crewed in late 2017. Furthest along is probably SpaceX, with their Dragon V2, scheduled to be crewed in early 2017. The last two options are particularly exciting, since they promise to cut the cost of getting an astronaut to the space station by up to 2/3 compared to a Soyuz launch.
Sorry, I have to correct you there. Unless Russia has been publishing their internal costs and markup of their launches, we only know the launch price of the Soyuz. Unless they are very foolish, the cost is a secret.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.