W
wvbraun
Guest
There is a t/space-presentation of their plans for manned lunar missions. In it there is a picture of a craft very similar to White Knight but apparently (judging from its landing gear) much bigger carrying a rocket. It's a small and blurry picture but it's *something*. <br /><br />Man, I really, really hope that t/space is selected for the planned CEV fly-off in 2008. They will kick Boeing's/LockMart's ass.<br /><br /><br />From hobbyspace.com:<br /><br /><i>The ETO (Earth-to-Orbit) system includes a White Knight type of first stage to launch S1 CSX modules, which can be configured to launch crew, cargo, or fuel. (See page 8 - Pictorial Taxonomy of Transportation Elements.) The S1 is also shown riding on top of other vehicles including the SpaceX Falcon V and a Kistler K-1.<br /><br />The ETO second stage is called the Common Core Booster (CCB). The CCB is an expendable. Engines on the S1 provide the third stage boost.<br /><br />A triple CCB second stage would be required to launch the much larger S2-CEV module that provides transport from LEO to the lunar surface for crews, cargo, or fuel. Though the CEV/Triple CCB combo is much larger than the S1-CCB (see page 13), the report indicates that the same aircraft (to be built by Scaled Composites) could be used for both. (Drop occurs at 25K ft.)<br /><br />Multiple S1 flights would bring propellant to LEO for transfer to the CEVs, which would provide repeated trips to the Moon and back.</i>