2040-50 = not now.There have been prior stories about how "the Japanese are planning some great space project", which is invariably 40 years in the future. It used to be 2020, now its 2040.http://phys.org/news176879161.html
Japan should start paying attention. They obviously have missed the lesson of SpaceX: you don't have to wait decades to develop something new. You can try something and rapidly iterate until you get something that works. And simple and cheap matters. And recovering fairly conventional first stages works.Japan seems to have totally missed all those lessons if they're talking about 2040-2050 as a target for a reusable launch vehicle.
Good idea and all, but by the mid century? There'll be totally new ways of keeping costs down by that time we can't even conceive of yet.
Maybe they figure that by then SpaceX will have moved on far enough to license the F9 and Merlin to them?
In 1996, NASDA (one of the precursors to JAXA) considered an evolution for the H-IIA that would involve reusable boosters that would vertically land downrange on a "floating landing facility." (source: https://repository.exst.jaxa.jp/dspace/handle/a-is/26821)
Japanese CG artist "ansur_nied" has made a recreation of a 1995 NASDA RLV concept that at first, looks like a Delta Clipper-style SSTO.But it is in fact a two-stage-to-orbit vehicle. After the first stage has burned most of its propellant, it turns retrograde to deploy the second stage. The first stage re-enters nose-first then lands propulsively.The concept can be found here in the JAXA repository along with another strange concept involving asymmetrically arranged reusable booster clusters.
Quote from: Cherokee43v6 on 04/06/2016 01:07 pmMaybe they figure that by then SpaceX will have moved on far enough to license the F9 and Merlin to them?If SpaceX is still producing F9 and merlin by 2040 then I'm a turkey ham and pickle sandwich. I believe different rockets will fill their roles by then.
Quote from: Pipcard on 04/06/2016 05:23 amIn 1996, NASDA (one of the precursors to JAXA) considered an evolution for the H-IIA that would involve reusable boosters that would vertically land downrange on a "floating landing facility." (source: https://repository.exst.jaxa.jp/dspace/handle/a-is/26821)Quote from: Pipcard on 04/06/2016 09:22 pmJapanese CG artist "ansur_nied" has made a recreation of a 1995 NASDA RLV concept that at first, looks like a Delta Clipper-style SSTO.But it is in fact a two-stage-to-orbit vehicle. After the first stage has burned most of its propellant, it turns retrograde to deploy the second stage. The first stage re-enters nose-first then lands propulsively.The concept can be found here in the JAXA repository along with another strange concept involving asymmetrically arranged reusable booster clusters.Like most national space programs, Japan didn't lack good ideas. What they lacked was top-level decision making to go for the right idea and the ability to do it for a reasonable cost.