Space Shuttles Imagine a future where a journey out of Earth's atmosphere is as routine as catching a plane is today. That future will become a reality from 2004, when NASA's first totally reusable orbital space plane takes to the skies. The current space shuttle was a major step in that direction, but it still has to depend on a multi-stage system to get it into orbit, which increases costs and decreases safety. Of course, the ultimate dream is to develop a spacecraft, which will take off and land as a single- stage-to-orbit, totally reusable system, and the Venture Star is about to do exactly that. Venture Star - space-plane of the future Venture Star will revolutionise space transportation by delivering payloads to orbit more reliably and less expensively than today's launch vehicles are able to. By dramatically reducing the cost of space travel, Venture Star will finally open the high frontier - enabling a new breed of pioneers to head out into the solar system and explore opportunities on other planets. The Venture Star is different from the current Space Shuttle in a number of ways. Firstly, it does not drop tanks or rocket boosters along its flight path, so it operates more like a conventional aeroplane. Between flights, Venture Star will simply undergo inspections, refuelling and reloading. There are no components to re-manufacture or reassemble. By reusing the vehicle, Venture Star will dramatically cut the cost of space travel to as much as one-tenth of what it is today. Unlike the heavy bell nozzles and steering systems on the current space shuttle, the Venture Star will use a new engine, called a "linear aerospike engine". The new engine is lighter, more efficient, and more powerful. Another clever feature of the aerospike engine is that it can automatically adjust to changing atmospheric conditions as the vehicle climbs into orbit, so it maintains very efficient thrust throughout the ascent. The X33 - baby-brother test vehicle However, before the Venture Star is actually built, Lockheed Martin, the company contracted by NASA to build the space-plane, has to prove it will do everything they claim it can. To do that, they are building a baby brother demo vehicle, called the X-33. The X-33 is half the size of Venture Star, one ninth of the weight and one fourth of the costs to develop - which makes it ideal for prototyping and testing. The X-33 will also be unmanned - so should anything go wrong, there will be no risk to life. During flight tests, the data collected will enable the developers to predict how the full scale Venture Star will perform. Once the demonstration flights by the X-33 are completed and evaluated, Lockheed Martin and its civilian partners will decide whether to develop and build Venture Star. They will have to confirm whether the flights by the X-33 have demonstrated that Venture Star is technically possible. Will Venture Star be able to meet the goal of cheap, low-risk, and routine access to space? Above all, will it be profitable? If the answers are all "yes," then NASA will have to raise the capital needed to carry out the project. It will need to convince potential investors, and its own upper management, that the risk of developing Venture Star is acceptable, because there will be no federal government funding for this project. It will be strictly a commercial undertaking. If Venture Star is built and proves successful, the cost of launching one pound of payload into low Earth orbit will be reduced from the $10,000 it costs today with the space shuttle, to $1,000. This cost-reduction is likely to dramatically increase space business: Communications satellites; scientific satellites; servicing the International Space Station; exotic manufacturing laboratories exploiting the near zero-gravity conditions of space; and other novel uses of space yet to be invented by twenty-first century entrepreneurs. One idea could be the sale of leisure excursions to adventurous private citizens. Apparently a Japanese Hotel group is already selling tickets in advance. So who knows, next we could be telling you about an orbiting hotel - watch this space! CONTACTS: X-33 and Venture Star Websites: Venture Star general interest: http://www1.mhv.net/~flholt/tandj/venture.html Space Transportation Programmes (NASA): http://stp.msfc.nasa.gov/ VentureStar: http://www.venturestar.com/ Venture Star detailed site (NASA): http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/ootw/1997/ootw_971001/vstar.html

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