DARPA requests spaceplane proposals
The competition heats up: As part of its XS-1 spaceplane development program DARPA this week put out a request for proposals for companies to build an experimental space plane capable of launching 10 times in 10 days for a cost of no more than $5 million.
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The competition heats up: As part of its XS-1 spaceplane development program DARPA this week put out a request for proposals for companies to build an experimental space plane capable of launching 10 times in 10 days for a cost of no more than $5 million.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Why would one need to fly into space ten times in ten days? And do it for $5 million a shot? I don’t think so.
Typo I’m sure, but “…capable of achieving ten times in ten days…” Capable of achieving what? Successful suborbital trajectory? Refueling? Round trips between North America and, say, Australia? On-way trips? Transporting a specific payload or mass? Please clarify, Bob. Thanks.
Joey: Yes, twas a typo. I should have written “capable of launching 10 times in 10 days.”
My real question is.
Are they just doing this to try to stretch the technological boundaries or do they have a plan for a system like this.
If they are just pushing limits then its not the right reason. Need dictates design and desire. Its just a waste of time effort and money.
If they have a plan for this type of system exactly what could it be that a disposable system couldn’t do just as good if not better and cheaper.
You do not need a reusable space plane to put small sats into orbit.
As a weapons platform I just cannot see the practical need. Its like asking for a reusable cruse missile.
And doesn’t the US Airforce already have one of these spaceplanes? And its in operation.
Or is this just a way to throw government research money at a crony corporation?
Couldn’t Space X just scale down Falcon 9?
Only lifting about 5,000lbs into orbit max and only use the first stage?
Maybe only using one or two Merlin engine’s.
If its small enough it could be launched from an aircraft carrier and landed back on the same ship.
If they could get it down to about 60 feet long it would fit in the same space as a fighter jet.
If it could be converted to Jet fuel and LOX then the military wouldn’t even need new fuels.
We don’t need wings to fly anymore. Plus they just get in the way on a rocket.