My latest idea

[grooble]

Reposted here as requested - - - <br /><br />To orbit methods.<br /><br />I choose the air launch. I've seen it done with my own eyes, spaceshipone, and hope t/space carries through with the logical next step of that program with orbital capability. <br /><br />I had this idea. <br /><br />What if you created an enourmous delta wing aircraft with a dozen powerful turbine engines. On top of this would be a craft, such as the one in your image, the spaceplane. And as i mentioned a week or two ago, it could have one of those catapults like the aircraft carriers, but perhaps more powerful and a longer run. <br /><br />That way the craft would be launched away from its mothership, allowing its engines to kick in and fly to orbit. <br /><br />With a sturdy delta wing mothership, you could perhaps have a ramp at the back of it and some kind of tow cable could pull the spaceplane to the top of it. <br /><br />So you don't have to spend a lot of time and money to get the craft into position on the mothership, just a quick 10 minute operation. <br /><br />It's just a vague outline, i only thought of it 10 minutes ago. <br /><br />Also, perhaps you could incorporate the sort of floating tech JPAerospace is working on to give better lift? <br /><br />Could you fill the inside with some kind of gas like Helium? Would it offer any kind of lifting benefit and reduced fuel needs?<br /><br />

 

[vogon13]

How much of a bump in performance would you get with a Pegasus launched at 60000 feet, mach 2 from a Concorde?<br /><br />Neat proof of concept for a drastic upgrade such as you propose. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[spacefire]

just imagine what a catapult would do to the stability of your mothership. the whole thing would prolly plummet to earth in a flat spin! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[tomnackid]

When the catapult shoots the 2nd stage forward your mothership shoots backwards--you gain nothing! (Remember Newton?) Aircraft carriers are many time more massive than fighter planes and are embedded in a viscous medium.

 

[Leovinus]

And the point of the catapult is to give the aircraft sufficient airspeed for lift with very little runway. An airborne object already has that airspeed and needs no runway. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>