Re: Lockmart CEV design released



Pat Flannery wrote:

It looks like an early Dyna-Soar concept with the Hermes orbital module attached to the back, riding on a Centaur stage:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/1534782.html

Actually it looks like this gizmo when seen from the top:
http://www.arnold.af.mil/aedc/systems/60-933.jpg
There's a drawing of this design on page 391 of Miller's "The Dream Machines" it even has the two small circular windows on its upper surface that the Lockmart design shares.
It also looks like the Chinese 921-3 minishuttle design to some extent:
http://www.astronautix.com/graphics/p/p9213orb.jpg
http://www.astronautix.com/graphics/c/chishut1.jpg
According to the PM article it uses a whole-crew escape module, and the complete CEV spacecraft is assembled via two launches in LEO. Which sounds like a fairly complex and expensive way of doing things, probably forced by the weight of the winged (or whatever you call it- it's a lifting body with a bulge on the top) aerodynamic reentry vehicle. Since the reentry vehicle parachutes to a land or sea landing with airbags under it, what exact advantages the lifting body shape gives you over a ballistic capsule design is a bit beyond me. The upper aerodynamic component has extensible solar panels, so it also is apparently meant to operate independently when required (crew taxi?) 

Pat
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Lockmart CEV design released
    ... > Pat Flannery wrote: ... > lifting body with a bulge on the top) aerodynamic reentry vehicle. ... > ballistic capsule design is a bit beyond me. ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: Lockmart CEV design released
    ... > complete CEV spacecraft is assembled via two launches in LEO. ... > lifting body with a bulge on the top) aerodynamic reentry vehicle. ... of like the current shuttle without the payload bay or main engines. ... > ballistic capsule design is a bit beyond me. ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: NASA Targets June Launch for Space Shuttle Atlantis
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  • Re: Marooned
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  • Re: lifting body / winged CEV
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