Re: BlackStar Diversion?
- From: "Ed Kyle" <edkyle99@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 12 Mar 2006 11:19:33 -0800
Damon Hill wrote:
"Ed Kyle" <edkyle99@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in news:1142188173.714755.256210
@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:
"http://www.abo.fi/~mlindroo/SpaceLVs/Slides/sld039.htm";
A C-5 could carry maybe four times as much payload as an XB-70.
A spaceplane launched from a C-5 could thus orbit far more payload
mass than a "BlackStar" spaceplane - and without exotic "gelled
Boron" fuel, etc. And importantly for "spook" work, a spaceplane
carried within a C-5 would be much, much less noticable than a funky
"Mothership" when it flew into your local airport!
It would have to be launched externally, and the support fittings
and modifications would surely be obvious. The nose door can't be
opened in flight and launching out the rear will have some issues,
though an air-launched ICBM has been done and a satellite launcher
with a rather limited payload is being worked on.
Salkeld's proposal called for the spaceplane to be "ejected from the
rear doors of the C-5, aided by a drag-chute to stabilize the
spacecraft
until engine ignition", according to Jenkin's "Space Shuttle" 3rd Ed
Chapter 4. This would have been possible by giving the spaceplane
stubby wingstrakes augmented by snap-out "folding wings" not
unlike those on a cruise missile.
Salkeld's spaceplane also had overwing drop tanks. I found it very
interesting that the AWST eyewitness described damage visible on
the top side of the spaceplane wings.
The Gary Hudson/Air Launch concept uses a smaller C-17 to drop
launch a 72,000 lb LOX/propane two-stage rocket that is supposed
to be able to put 1,400 lbs into a 100 nmi x 28 deg orbit. Salkeld's
proposal called for a 200,000 lb "drop" mass from a modified C-5.
- Ed Kyle
.
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