Re: Atmospheric Flight to Orbit


"Henry Spencer" <henry@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:JEEuDG.326@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <467030a4.1539043928@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Rand Simberg <simberg.interglobal@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
farthest they've suggested going toward a custom aircraft is putting
longer landing gear on a 747...

...they don't have tail doors, do they? All of the 747Fs that I'm
aware of are side loaders.

Yes, if all you want is an *experimental* aircraft, it might not be all
that costly any more. Something that can be certified -- so it can carry
cargo for paying customers -- is a very different kettle of fish...

That's an interesting legal question. It seems to me that if that's
its only purpose, you simply declare it a flyback first stage, and get
a launch license for it with the rest of the vehicle. No
certification required. ;-)

Alas :-), I suspect that won't work unless there is, at minimum, a major
rocket phase in the first stage's flight. The exact boundary between AST
and the aviation people remains to be defined for such things -- the
"suborbital rocket" definition doesn't literally apply to an orbital
vehicle -- but the suborbital-rocket precedent is a reasonable one and
it's likely that they'd extend it somehow rather than going back to the
drawing board entirely. So if you don't have a rocket-powered phase with
thrust exceeding wing lift for more than 50% of the phase duration, it's
pretty definitely an aircraft and certification applies.

How much trouble will Virgin have with the White Knight 2 carrier
for Space Ship 2? It almost certainly won't be a certified aircraft.
It also will not be likely to use rockets.

In fact, I wonder if OSC got a special type certification for
Stargazer, when they modded the Tri-Star to carry Pegasus?

I believe they did, yes. Not a huge problem, with an already-certified
aircraft modified by an experienced aircraft maintainer/rebuilder
(Marshall Aerospace in the UK).
--
spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |
henry@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


.

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