Author Topic: The development of the spacecraft will accelerate the development of space  (Read 2040 times)

Offline captaincrow

With the continuous progress of science and technology and social development, the scope of human activities are expanding to a broader field, from land to ocean, from the ocean to the sky, April 12, 1961 Gagarin took" Vostok 1 " spacecraft into space, since then the space has become a new field of people's activities. As Giulio•Douhet ,the father of the Air Force said: "Each new field reclaiming by humanbeing will be a new battlefield."  Space is the decisive battlefield in the future, If a country is defeated in the space battle, it will inevitably lose its strategic initiative,  so it is necessary and significance for each country or country alliance to do strategic research of the space development. In my point of view, the scientific classification of spacecraft in the strategic research of the space development can accelerate the speed of space development.

First, the advantages of spacecraft classification development
Since the last space shuttle Atlantis retired, almost all human space missions are  handed over to the launch vehicle, this technology mature rocket-powered spacecraft with strong carrying capacity, high stability. But we also know that the cost of launching rocket is very expensive, and the main power part is basically not recyclable, although companies such as spaceX are committed to the study of recyclable rocket technology, there is not a final conclusion until the actual effect appears.
In my opinion, in order to speed up the progress of space development, the progress should be classified according to the specific functions of spacecraft. After classified, each spacecraft only takes on a special task, such as the shuttle, it is exclusively used to transport people between planet and space station, so that the shuttle can be designed to be small and lightweight , can be launched using a track accelerator or from a high altitude platform; the carriage of goods can be achieved through the use of unmanned rocket or large acceleration orbit; the designers do not have to consider the personnel safety, The difficulty of design is also reduced a lot. Like ship, at the beginning, ship sailing on the ocean with a variety of functions, not only can it transport, but also can sail long distance and fight. But with the development of demand ,a variety of specialized vessels emerged, such as oil tankers, cargo ships, icebreakers, warships and so on. It is conceivable that with the progress of human civilization , the spacecraft will also be classified , and the classification of spacecraft development may become a breakthrough in the next period of space development.


Second, the general classification of spacecraft
Spacecraft can be divided into Planetary , cosmic and universal type,according to its flight environment . Planetary type refers to the spacecraft that can travel to and from the planetary and space stations without the need for Space flight. This spacecraft needs to have enough high speed to get rid of the gravitational force of the planet, and in order to be able to return to a planet with atmosphere like the earth, it need to withstand the friction with the atmosphere . The spacecraft can be further refined into a special transport personnel shuttle,cargo spacecraft for cargo transportation and professional spacecraft for special items. General goods such as water, minerals and supplies can be transported by unmanned spacecraft. The farther future transport of goods can also consider using large electromagnetic acceleration track to launch the spacecraft , And letting orbital space stations accepting those goods.


The spacecraft refers are those that specialize in interplanetary flight. Those spacecraft can be built in a space environment, because this type of spacecraft does not need to enter the atmosphere, so that the spacecraft can design without considering the aerodynamics.According to the actual needs of the design into a variety of styles , it can also be built in huge size. According to the speed of the interplanetary flight of the spacecraft, the spacecraft can be divided into ordinary spacecraft and sub-light speed spacecraft; according to the use of functions, the spacecrafts can be divided into transport spacecraft, agricultural spacecraft, military spacecraft, exploration spacecraft, mining spacecraft and so on. Military spacecrafts can be subdivided into investigation type, cruise type, Battle type, etc. Other spacecraft can be further subdivided, but this is not the focus of this article, it will not go into details.

    Universal refers to those who can both planetary mission, but also space flight spacecraft. Like the Millennium Falcon and fireflies in science fiction movies , with the continuous development of science and technology, universal spacecrafts will appear in a variety of types.


Third, the moon
I am talking about the moon here because the moon is too important for human civilization to explore the universe, and I think that in the early stages of human exploration of the universe, if a country or organization can control the moon ,it controls the initiative in the development of human space civilization.
On the one hand, the moon is the closest celestial body from the earth, the rich mineral resources on the moon can be developed and used to build infrastructure, spacecraft and space station, the commercial value it contains is the source of sustainable development.The gravity environment also makes it possible to build large spaceships and space stations, and such large spacecrafts are  need for long-range space colonization. On the other hand, because the moon is in a special position on Earth's satellites, the fleet can easily reach the vast majority of the area over the earth and block the area of the upper airspace. The strategic value of this is also self-evident.
For better space construction and development, classified designs and constructions of spacecraft may be a viable way.

Offline Kansan52

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The shortest answer for me to your opinion is that much is already occurring.

My opinion is the Moon is a good destination for many things, but for a vibrant space economy exploiting Near Earth Asteroids could be a quicker method because you avoid the Moon's gravity well.

Welcome! This a great place to discuss opinions like yours.


Offline LooksFlyable

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I agree with the post above. This is pretty much how all rockets are built, with specific purposes in mind.

But if you are saying we need some companies to focus specifically on achieving low access to LEO for humans, I agree completely. Not enough working on that, but there's also not much up there at the moment  in terms of destination, so you are limited to rides around the Earth and to the moon and back.

We are seeing suborbital taking shape though with companies like VG, BO, and balloon rides like Bloon from Zero 2 Infinity and World View as well as efforts from Copenhagen Suborbitals. But we really do need more companies strictly working on cheap, reliable, reusable manned orbital spacecraft as their primary focus. Perhaps even focusing strictly on the crew vehicles and making them easily adaptable for multiple boosters.

At one point SpaceX seemed to be the one to bet on for humans too, but now I fear they have other priorities. Cargo, satellites, NASA astronauts and interplanetary boosters are their focus now. That won't do much for getting humans into orbit for cheap unless they specifically work on achieving that goal. I thought it would be an inevitable outcome of their Mars program, but I don't believe this anymore.

As of right now, we only have 1 company that stated that as their primary goal, which is Blue Origin, but even their priorities might be changing. So we might have to wait for the suborbital companies to go through that stage for a few years and if they believe there is a market, then scale up their operations to orbital craft.

Offline spacenut

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The ultimate goal of SpaceX is Mars colonization.  SpaceX didn't have the money to do this right away.  They had to develop F9 to launch satellites and payloads to ISS to bring in money.  They will have their Dragon II manned spacecraft ready by mid-year next year with no setbacks.  They have already tested a sub-scale Raptor for their Mars booster and spacecraft.  Hopefully they will be built within 5 years.  This booster/spacecraft can also be used for moon centric operations. 

Blue Origin is very slow getting an orbital rocket and spacecraft built and going.  They did have a setback with their new BE-4 engine exploding in testing. 

ULA, who knows, they were going to use the BE-4 engine on their new Vulcan rocket, but might have to switch to the AR-1 from Orbital/ATK.  It is only to reuse the booster engines, not the whole booster also.  If ULA can get Vulcan going especially with an ACES upper stage, they can compete.

Don't know about others. 

NASA will eventually get SLS flying, but it is expendable, and can only afford to launch once a year currently at about $1.3 billion per launch.  Unless they can get more money from congress and develop spacecraft for this rocket. 

Offline LooksFlyable

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Going orbital right away is not as important as establishing a tourism market first. If you can prove space tourism, even suborbital can be a viable business, then obviously people will want orbital and orbital is just the next step. But establishing a market for that now is an important first step rather than waiting to start when orbital is feasible. You could make an argument that establishing a suborbital market could delay an orbital one because companies would at least want to recoup their investment, but you could also make the argument it will accelerate and give more companies courage to try it. Waiting on orbital could take much longer and the same goes for SpaceX's Mars plan.

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