Engineers of the Space Center. Kennedy (USA) proposed a well-forgotten new concept of spacecraft launch.
The wedge-shaped apparatus, equipped with air-jet engines, must take off after an independent run or on a jet sled run on electrified rails. Having reached a speed of 11 thousand km / h (M10), in the upper atmosphere, the device shoots out a small container (analogue of the second stage of the launch vehicle), after which it goes into orbit.
Project manager Stan Starr notes that the system does not require the development of new technologies. "All the elements have already been created or studied," says the scientist. "We are simply suggesting that we benefit from them at a higher level than where they are currently being used."
For example, electrified rails have been moving roller coaster cars for years. The only difference is that their maximum speed is approaching only 100 km / h. This is enough to entertain the layman, but launching a spacecraft will require at least a tenfold increase in the indicator. In addition, the length of a runway equipped with such a booster should be more than three kilometers.
Fortunately, work in this direction is already underway. Prototypes (albeit on a smaller scale) were built on the basis of the Space Flight Center. Marshall in Alabama, as well as the aforementioned Center. Kennedy. The US Navy is creating something similar for its aircraft.
Tests in the X-43A and X-51 programs have shown that jet vehicles can achieve very impressive speeds using such systems.
To implement the project, Stan Starr calls for the unification of those NASA departments, whose activities usually do not overlap, and within ten years try to launch the first unmanned aircraft, and only then - the satellite.
