Mock-up of the vehicle at Paris Air Show 2007 The EADS Astrium Space Tourism Project, also called EADS Astrium TBN according to some sources[1], has been officially unveiled in Paris by EADS Astrium, the space subsidiary of the French-German consortium EADS, on June 13, 2007.[2] The project is the first space tourism entry by a major aerospace contractor. A scale one mock-up of the cockpit has been exhibited at the 2007 Paris Air Show. EADS Astrium, one of the three business units of EADS Space, this company being a subsidiary of EADS, is an European space manufacturer involved in the manufacture of spacecraft used for science, Earth observation and telecommunication, as well as the equipment and subsystems used therein and related ground systems. ...
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V. (EADS) is a large European aerospace corporation, formed by the merger on July 10, 2000 of Aérospatiale-Matra of France, Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) of Spain, and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) of Germany. ...
A Mirage 2000-5 at the Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (Salon International de lAéronautique et de lEspace, Paris-Le Bourget) is an international trade fair for the aerospace business. ...
It is a rocket plane with a large wingspan, straight rearwards wing and a pair of canards. [3]Propulsion is ensured by classical jet engines for the atmospheric phase and a methane - oxygen rocket engine for the space tourism phase. It can carry a pilot and four passengers. The dimensions and looks are somewhat similar to those of a business jet. This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
EADS Astrium hopes to start the development of this rocket plane by 2008, with the objective of a first flight in 2011. It has been announced that the Tunisian area of Tozeur could be used for the initial flights.[4] Habib Bourguiba Avenue, Tozeur Sahara around Tozeur Tozeur (Arabic: ‎) is an oasis and a city in central Tunisia. ...
A development cost of $ 1 billion has been announced by some sources. EADS Astrium plans to raise public and private money for its project.
Origin of the project
The origin of the project is a proposal by a group of young French, German, English and Spanish engineers from EADS Astrium. It has been studied in great secrecy for two years and finally approved by the chairman of EADS Astrium, François Auque.
Australian designer Marc Newson joined the team and designed the cabin. Marc Newson (1963-) is an Australian-born designer. ...
Flight profile
After takeoff the plane reaches an altitude of 12 km. This classical aeronautical phase can last for 45 minutes. The pilot shuts down the jets and starts the methane oxygen rocket engine at the rear of the vehicle. The plane then raises along a vertical trajectory. For 80 seconds of flight with a top speed of Mach 3, the plane is rocketed upwards. The maximum acceleration is 3 g. At an altitude of 60 km, the rocket engine is shut down and the plane continues to climb up to a maximum altitude of 100 km.
This is the weightlessness phase.
Then the plane gets down to 15 km at a high angle of attack, being progressively decelerated by the atmosphere; at this altitude, after transition to aeronautical mode, the jets are reignited to bring the plane back to a classical landing strip. In this diagram, the black arrow represents the direction of the wind. ...
Characteristics Interior layout of the vehicle at Paris Air Show 2007 The total mass of the vehicle is 18 tons (39,700 lbs.) at takeoff. The plane has two jet engines, and a oxygen methane engine with a thrust of 30 tons. [5] The rocket engine uses the technology of the Vulcain (the main engine of Ariane 5), but is reusable thirty times and burns methane instead of hydrogen (hydrogen would require too much tank volume). Vulcain is a first stage propulsion cyrotechnic motor for the rocket Ariane 5. ...
Ariane 5 mock-up Ariane 5 is a European expendable launch system designed to deliver satellites into geostationary transfer orbit and to send payloads to Low Earth orbit. ...
The cabin has a diameter of 2.3 m (7 ft 6 in), and provides 3 m² of cabin space to each passenger. The seats are attached to a pendular system which allows the acceleration to be perpendicular to the back of the passengers. They pivot around the attachment points so that the passengers are aligned rearside to the spacecraft x-axis (body aligned on Gx-axis) during launch acceleration and they are rearside on the negative z-axis during weightlessness and reentry. [6]
The plane is designed for ten years with a flight rate of once a week.[5]
Industrial organisation The development will be led by EADS Astrium. Its technical responsibility resides with Robert Lainé.
A development cost of $ 1 billion has been announced by some sources. EADS Astrium plans to raise public and private money for its project. One of the possible public investors mentioned by François Auque is the southern German state of Bavaria where the engines are to be produced. [7] Astrium could produce 5 planes a year and have a fleet of 20 planes, which would require a production of 20 rocket engines a year. They do not exclude selling models to other entrepreneurs such as Sir Richard Branson from Virgin Galactic. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ...
The final assembly would be in France, while the other industrial facilities of Astrium would provide the rocket engines (Ottobrunn, Germany[8]) or the carbon fiber structures (Spain). Other European industrial partners are associated with the project.
The target of Astrium is to secure 30% of the market of space tourism by 2020, 5000 passengers a year. [9]
The ticket price will be 200000 euros, including a round trip to the spaceport, training, and luxury accommodation in a theme park/resort.
Competition The closest concept is the Rocketplane XP of Rocketplane Limited, Inc., which shares the same overall rocket plane principle. Other competitors include the SpaceShipTwo of Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. Rocketplane Limited, Inc. ...
Rocketplane Limited, Inc. ...
Richard Branson (right) presents the Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson with (possibly) an early scale model of Virgin SpaceShip (VSS) aka SpaceShipTwo SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital spaceplane currently under development by The Spaceship Company, a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Group, as part...
Virgin Galactic is a company within Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Group, which plans to offer sub-orbital spaceflights and later orbital spaceflights to the paying public. ...
Blue Origin is a privately-funded aerospace company initially focused on sub-orbital spaceflight founded in 2000. ...
Reactions Burt Rutan expressed scepticism towards the EADS Project.[10] Elbert Leander Burt Rutan (born June 17, 1943 in Estacada, Oregon) is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. ...
| “ | The non-recurring development cost of a suborbital spaceship that has rocket and jet engines — both of which leave the atmosphere and experience reentry — will be far more than our SpaceShipTwo program. | ” | The reaction of the European Union's industry commissioner Günter Verheugen was also negative.[11] Richard Branson (right) presents the Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson with (possibly) an early scale model of Virgin SpaceShip (VSS) aka SpaceShipTwo SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital spaceplane currently under development by The Spaceship Company, a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Group, as part...
Günter Verheugen (born 28 April 1944 in Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a German politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry. ...
| “ | It's only for the super rich, which is against my social convictions [...] I have no sympathy for this. It deserves no support. | ” |
References - ^ Radio interview of French ESA astronaut Jean-François Clervoy, during the show of Jacques Pradel on Europe 1, June 21, 2007
- ^ Planned Jet to Take Tourists Into Space. Forbes (2007-06-13). Retrieved on 2007-06-14.
- ^ Astrium dévoile son projet d'avion-fusée Le Figaro, June 14, 2007, Page 18
- ^ Tunis espère que le site de Tozeur sera retenu pour le lancement du futur avion spatial. Canada.com (2007-06-13). Retrieved on 2007-06-14.
- ^ a b EADS Astrium se lance dans le tourisme spatial Air & Cosmos, June 15, 2007, n° 2082 - Pages 150-151
- ^ EADS reinvents Rocketplane
- ^ European company unveils space plane. CNN (2007-06-14). Retrieved on 2007-06-14.
- ^ Space jet’s turbofans can cope with vacuum says EADS Rob Coppinger Flightglobal.com June 21, 2007
- ^ L'entreprise veut associer capitaux publics et privés pour le financement Le Figaro, June 14, 2007, Page 18
- ^ Burt Rutan: Reaction to European Spaceliner. Blog of Leonard David on livescience.com (2007-06-13). Retrieved on 2007-06-15.
- ^ EU official balks at space tourism. The Peninsula on line (2007-06-15). Retrieved on 2007-06-15.
Jean-Francois Clervoy Jean-François André Clervoy (born 19 November 1958) is a French spationaut an a veteran of three NASA space shuttle missions. ...
Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. ...
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ...
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
June 14 is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Le Figaro (English: ) is one of the leading French morning daily newspapers. ...
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ...
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
June 14 is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
June 14 is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
June 14 is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Le Figaro (English: ) is one of the leading French morning daily newspapers. ...
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ...
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
June 15 is the 166th day of the year (167th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
June 15 is the 166th day of the year (167th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
June 15 is the 166th day of the year (167th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
External links
Films The film has been made by Benjamin Ziegler.
Hi res
http://www.astrium.eads.net/static/eads-astrium-space-tourism-high.mpeg
Low res
http://www.astrium.eads.net/static/eads-astrium-space-tourism-low.mpeg |
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