PlanetSpace
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
PlanetSpace is a privately funded Chicago-based rocket and space travel project founded by the Canadian Arrow corporation and Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria.
In February, 2007, NASA announced plans to provide PlanetSpace with requirements and specifications to provide crew and cargo flights to the International Space Station under the terms of the National Aeronautics and Space Act. PlanetSpace plans to utilize the Silver Dart (see below) for this purpose.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The mission of PlanetSpace is to make space travel accessible to the general public. The company has focused its main efforts on two major projects: the Canadian Arrow, which is in development, and the Silver Dart, which is a proposed orbital spaceplane.
[edit] Canadian Arrow
The Canadian Arrow is a 16.5 m tall two-stage rocket, where the second stage is a three-person space capsule. In a somewhat conservative approach, the design of the rocket engine and aerodynamics are based on the well proven V-2 design from WWII.
[edit] First stage
The first stage is 10.2 m long and 1.7 m in diameter. It is propelled by a single liquid fuel rocket engine. It produces a thrust of 254 kN. Graphite jet vanes are used for stabilisation before the rocket has reached a velocity high enough for the four fins to be effectual. About a minute after ignition, the fuel is depleted and the engine shuts off.
[edit] Second stage
The second stage is 6 m long and 1.7 m in diameter at the base. It carries the three astronauts and is propelled by four JATO-type solid rocket engines. These are ignited immediately after stage separation, and carry the capsule to an altitude of about 112 km. Cold gas jets are used for attitude control.
[edit] Crew Cabin Escape System
The four solid rocket engines in the second stage can be fired at any time, including when the rocket still stands on the launch pad. This allows an escape system, which can, in case of an emergency, quickly separate the second stage from the rocket and propel it to an altitude of 1.5 km, where the parachutes can be deployed.
[edit] Rocket engine
The rocket engine uses alcohol and liquid oxygen as propellants, produces a maximum thrust of 254 kN, and burns for 55 seconds. It is constructed of low carbon steel, with propellant injectors made out of brass.
[edit] Flight profile
The Canadian Arrow rocket launches vertically from the ground. Initial thrust is about 75.5 kN, but the rocket quickly reaches maximum thrust. After 55 seconds, the propellant is depleted and stage separation occurs. The solid fuel rockets in the second stage are ignited and boosts it up to an altitude of about 112 km, where the crew and passengers experience a few minutes of zero-G.
After stage separation the first stage reaches an apogee of over 80 km before descent begins. Four parachutes slows it down before splashdown occurs at a speed of ~9 meters per second, after which recovery of the stage can take place.
At descent, the crew cabin (the second stage) uses a ballute to reduce the speed. When it is slowed down to subsonic speed, the ballute is released and pulls out the three parachutes for the splashdown.
[edit] Silver Dart
Based on the U.S. Air Force's Flight Dynamics Laboratory-7 (FDL-7) program, the Silver Dart is a lifting body designed to glide from hypersonic speeds of Mach 22 down to landing. The goal is to develop an orbital space craft/hypersonic glider capable of carrying around eight passengers. The spacecraft is expected to launch vertically atop a two-stage-plus-boosters rocket, propelled at takeoff by 28 Canadian Arrow rocket engines (slightly updated replicas of the German V-2 engine) and land horizontally on an aircraft runway, in an arrangement reminiscent of the Dynasoar project by NASA.
NASA based its X-24B test aircraft on the FDL-7 lifting body and valued the added range and stability the sleek, sharp-nosed design. FDL-7's lifting body design would also give the Silver Dart about twice the lift coefficient of NASA's space shuttles at subsonic speeds. The design is expected to have extremely higher glide range and cross range than the Shuttle Orbiter, thus relaxing requirements on reentry windows and thermal shielding.
