Which one in the end will allow us to get more tonnage into LEO for the lowest cost?
Well what about what Virgin Galactic's approach but scaled to way bigger, I mean huge, I mean a much bigger carrier plane and spaceplane, could this ever beat rockets?
Wings are silly in space. Rockets provably can land like they always were meant to - on a pillar of flame, tail first. Hence, spaceplanes are pretty silly.
Which one in the end will allow us to get more tonnage into LEO for the lowest cost? Which one can scale bigger than the other? I'm assuming rockets can scale bigger than a spaceplanes can (since Elon stated that eventually they'll have a rocket that'll dwarf even the ITS).
My defenition for a spaceplane (what is yours?) is jet engine and wings.
Assuming reusability can reduce the cost of luanch to ~the price of fuel+refurbishment, spaceplanes may set a lower price due to:less fuel needed with the much higher ISP of jet engines andless refurbishment needed due to more lofted entry.
Quote from: dror on 06/02/2017 12:30 pmMy defenition for a spaceplane (what is yours?) is jet engine and wings.Topic is spaceplane, not airlaunch, so jet engine is not enough.Quote from: dror on 06/02/2017 12:30 pmAssuming reusability can reduce the cost of luanch to ~the price of fuel+refurbishment, spaceplanes may set a lower price due to:less fuel needed with the much higher ISP of jet engines andless refurbishment needed due to more lofted entry.Fuel price is insignificant.Regarding refurbishment, a spaceplane is always more complex than a rocket, so I don't you can just claim that refurbishment is cheaper.
Regarding refurbishment, a spaceplane is always more complex than a rocket, so I don't you can just claim that refurbishment is cheaper.
Both VTVL and HTOL rocket vehicles of (relatively) comparable performance have demonstrated low cost operations with turnaround times less than an hour