ROCKETPLANE XP - CURRENT AND FUTURE ACTIVITIES

摘要

The XP spaceplane now being developed by Rocketplane Global Inc. (RGI) is a fully reusable suborbital vehicle about the size of a mid-sized business jet. It takes off and lands on conventional runways using J-85 afterburning turbojets and ascends to a 13 km altitude under jet power where it ignites its LOX / kerosene rocket engine for the ascent into space. After a 70 second main engine burn the XP has accelerated to Mach 3.5 and climbed to about 50 km altitude when the engine is shut down. Thereafter a ballistic coast phase of the flight carries the vehicle to an apogee of 104 km and back to atmospheric reencounter, deceleration and a gliding trajectory back to the runway. The jet engines are restarted just before landing to provide additional energy management for final approach. The primary market for the XP is space tourism flights, but the vehicle can also be utilized for the flight of microgravity research payloads as well as sensors and image gathering instruments. The payload capacity may also be allocated to carrying an external expendable upper stage for the launch of small satellites to Low Earth Orbit These first generation spaceplanes have limited range, but are capable of flying up to 300 km downrange to land at a different airport location from its takeoff. This initial point-to-point capability begins to build operating experience and flight data to enable future vehicle with longer range trans-oceanic capability. RGI intends to operate a distributed fleet of vehicles in multiple locations, first in the US and then overseas to build a global network of spaceflight operations and spaceports serving distinct regional markets.