Author Topic: A 1990s video about the 50-passenger space tourism concept "Kankoh-maru" (Read 17946 times)

Pipcard · « **on:** 02/17/2020 12:41 am »

The Kankoh-maru was a hydrolox SSTO for 50 passengers, envisioned by the Japanese Rocket Society. The giant capsule SSTO concept wasn't new, there was the Chrysler SERV proposed in the early 1970s. But this was specifically designed for space tourism.

According to the video above and this page, the first four vehicles would have been constructed between 2011 and 2013. Then, 1200 test flights until 2016 would prove safety and reliability. Afterwards, it would go into mass production, with dozens being produced over several years.

Shimizu Corporation was planning to build a space hotel by 2030 (or even this year).

Pipcard · « **Reply #1 on:** 02/19/2020 09:58 pm »

I want to ask if this type of design could have been made viable. SSTOs have poor payload mass fractions, so what if it were made as a second stage?

Would the "engine doors in the heat shield" system be too problematic, and necessitate an "engine pod" design similar to Dragon 2's Superdracos (which have cosine losses)? Can there still be vacuum-optimized (i.e. wide diameter) engines with such designs?

Can it be made into an interplanetary vehicle for Mars landing (with methalox instead of hydrolox)? The advantage (compared to Starship) would be a squat profile to reduce the risk of tip-over (and less need to make a massive rotation before landing), but the trade-off is that it would have less surface area to aerobrake with.