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Stewie_Griffin
Guest
<p>So I was thinking, if you made a kind of hybrid airship/spaceplane it would be cheaper than the designs by current private spaceflight companies (Spaceship 1/2 and Lynx). It would have a giant delta wing that would be a giant helium balloon with a frame between two layers of some kind of fabric. Mounted below the wing would be a basic rocket engine and fuel tanks as well as a cheap small jet engine, landing gear, and a payload bay. The rocket engine would run off LOX/Kerosene and the jet engine would run off Kerosene so the design would only need two fuel tanks.</p><p>The helium ballon would be big enough that without any payload, the spaceplane could float up off the ground. It would take off horizontally using the small jet engine and would continue to climb like that until it was at an altitude where the jet would no longer provide enough thrust. At this altitude it would engage the rocket engine and shoot up to space.</p><p>The advantages of this design would be that it would not need to carry a lot of rocket fuel, and it would be light enough that it's going into space and the re-entry could be slower than conventional designs. The balloon/wing would also provide massive aerobraking on re-entry and when it goes in for a landing it would have no fuel so it would be way lighter than air and it's landing could be at a very slow speed. The main disadvantage that I can think of is finding a fabric for the balloon/wing that could withstand the heat and the high speeds. </p><p>So I was just posting this because I wanted to see what other people thought of my idea, I'm not an expert on aerospace engineering or anything so if there's a major design flaw with this idea please tell me. Also please tell me if you have any ideas that might make it better or something that the fabric could be made of.</p><p>Thanks! </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>