Author Topic: Evolved X-37  (Read 4250 times)

Offline bad_astra

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Evolved X-37
« on: 03/02/2010 04:08 pm »
With all the discussions on saving Orion, promoting commercial crew, and which version of a shuttle derived vehicle has the greatest Messiah complex, the X-37B gets very little mention, and I find that odd.

If it flies successfully next month, America has a real windfall. It's not capzble of human flight as is, no, but unlike most of the paper designs and boilerplate hardware, it already exists. It's been scaled up before from the X-40, and it's not unreasonable to think this could make a rapidly developed crew ferry vehicle with room for four persons.

I suspect that if it has a successful test flight, and the news channels find interest in it, there are going to be questions asked about why we don't look at this vehicle.
"Contact Light" -Buzz Aldrin

Offline Jim

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Re: Evolved X-37
« Reply #1 on: 03/02/2010 04:16 pm »
It's been scaled up before from the X-40, and it's not unreasonable to think this could make a rapidly developed crew ferry vehicle with room for four persons.


It is just as far away from development as all the others.  Scaling up means new drawings and new systems.

Offline HarryM

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Offline JohnFornaro

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Re: Evolved X-37
« Reply #3 on: 03/02/2010 05:09 pm »
over on:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=20654.msg554023#msg554023

Marcel posted the attached picture.  Thought a copy here might be of interest.
Sometimes I just flat out don't get it.

Offline spacenut

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Re: Evolved X-37
« Reply #4 on: 03/02/2010 08:17 pm »
Looks like the Jupiter Core can lift the Dreamchaser with possibly an airlock module in its rear.  How much LEO tonage can the Jupiter Core with the 3-4 SSME lift?

Offline Lampyridae

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Re: Evolved X-37
« Reply #5 on: 03/02/2010 11:44 pm »
Not worth doing. The whole stack has less thrust than a Delta IVH.

Warning:20MB PDF

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940028594_1994028594.pdf

You need 6 SSMEs and to stage 2 of them. You get something like 40 tonnes to orbit.

4 RS-68s is a better bet but then you are duplicating Delta IVH so why bother?
« Last Edit: 03/02/2010 11:50 pm by Lampyridae »

Offline Patchouli

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Re: Evolved X-37
« Reply #6 on: 03/03/2010 02:41 am »
Not worth doing. The whole stack has less thrust than a Delta IVH.

Warning:20MB PDF

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940028594_1994028594.pdf

You need 6 SSMEs and to stage 2 of them. You get something like 40 tonnes to orbit.

4 RS-68s is a better bet but then you are duplicating Delta IVH so why bother?

SDLVs really only make sense if you stick with something close to the original shuttle stack and for payloads larger then around 50 to 70T on the small end.
The shuttle stack is pretty much a Saturn V or Enegia class LV so it's best to use it as such.

Anything below 40T or so you might as well go with EELV or Falcon derived.

Getting 40T out of Delta IV would be pretty easy I think Atlas Phase II also can do it as well and F9-H with Raptor is reported to have a payload of around 45T.

This also shows the real truth about claims that the Chinese are ahead of the US.

The US could not only easily match anything they could do they could bury them.
« Last Edit: 03/03/2010 02:53 am by Patchouli »

Offline Lars_J

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Re: Evolved X-37
« Reply #7 on: 03/03/2010 02:59 am »
Not worth doing. The whole stack has less thrust than a Delta IVH.

Warning:20MB PDF

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940028594_1994028594.pdf

You need 6 SSMEs and to stage 2 of them. You get something like 40 tonnes to orbit.

4 RS-68s is a better bet but then you are duplicating Delta IVH so why bother?

Thanks for linking to that document, very interesting stuff.

And neat to see the a External tank derived launcher with 7 (!!!) SSME's attached. :) Kind of looks like a bigger Falcon 9.

Offline Kitspacer

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Re: Evolved X-37
« Reply #8 on: 03/04/2010 10:13 pm »
With all the discussions on saving Orion, promoting commercial crew, and which version of a shuttle derived vehicle has the greatest Messiah complex, the X-37B gets very little mention, and I find that odd.

If it flies successfully next month, America has a real windfall. It's not capzble of human flight as is, no, but unlike most of the paper designs and boilerplate hardware, it already exists. It's been scaled up before from the X-40, and it's not unreasonable to think this could make a rapidly developed crew ferry vehicle with room for four persons.

I suspect that if it has a successful test flight, and the news channels find interest in it, there are going to be questions asked about why we don't look at this vehicle.

I wonder if, just as the manned piloted airplane is being supplemented/ supplanted by UAV's, the USAF is not going the USV route out of the box...making humans virtually redundant.  Cuts the wage bill...

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