Do you think we've seen the last of T/Space?

[gladiator1332]

As we all know, T/Space is out of the running for the CEV. Lockheed has their lifting body concept, and Grumman is a bit of an unknown. The last we saw, they were building Soyuz. Recently NASA said they are interested in a capsule concept, thus putting Lockheed in a bit of a pickle. Do they keep their current lifting body design, or redesign yet again? Sure they can go back to their old CEV concept, however, wasn't it Lockheed who supported T/Space's ideas, and actually considered working some of T/Space's ideas into their plans. Not sure where that went, however, with a possible redesign, is there any possibility T/Space will join the Lockheed team as a sub-contractor and the CXV becomes Lockheed's concept. <br />It would be a compromise, the air launch plans would be given up, and the CXV would be launched on the SRB, however, the CXV would still fly. I believe this is a reasonable idea. T/Space already has the mockup, and they would allow Lockheed to make up for whatever time would be lost in a complete redesign. However, it seems Boeing is going to be doing the same, as they said they were waiting for the 60 Day study to be released. <br />Another thing I noticed was that Lockheed's original CEV capsule, was not much unlike the CXV. They had a similar shape, however they re-entered differently. It would not be so much of a change from Lockheed's original plans. <br />This seems like the CXV's last hope as a possible CEV concept. Otherwise, T/Space will need to find funding elsewhere. <br />This is a great idea, as T/Space will gain some experience, and they will have Lockheed over the shoulder throughout the CXV development. I'm sure Lockheed would do the actually metal cutting, but T/Space would be there for the design. <br />It will be interesting to see where things go in the coming weeks, and whether Lockheed keeps its original concept, or opts for the nredesign.

 

[gunsandrockets]

If t/Space cannot find private funding to develop the whole LEO launch system they desire, I still see another route by which the t/Space CXV capsule could fly. I believe t/Space will co-operate with SpaceX to win the America's Space Prize. The prize money itself is small beans, the real prize is a flight contract to service Bigelow orbital space habitats worth about half a billion dollars.<br /><br />Artwork by t/Space shows the CXV capsule mounted on different launch systems besides the t/Space launch system, including the SpaceX Falcon V rocket. The Falcon V rocket should have all the lift needed to put the CXV into LEO. The initial Falcon V can lift 6 tonnes to orbit and the later Falcon V with LH2/LOX second stage can lift 9 tonnes to orbit.