PlanetSpace Unveils New Orbital Vehicle Inspired by Saint Louis University Professor
ST. LOUIS - On Thursday, Dec. 15, a noted Saint Louis University aerospace engineer and an X-Prize contender will unveil their plans for a space vehicle that one day could take commercial passengers into orbit and service the International Space Station.
PlanetSpace, an Ontario-based firm pursuing space tourism, and Canadian Arrow, a competitor for the $10-million Ansari X Prize, have teamed up with Saint Louis University’s Paul Czysz for the project.
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A computer rendering of the glider.
Photo provided by PlanetSpace |
Professor emeritus of aerospace engineering at Saint Louis University, Czysz is a well-known expert on hypersonic gliders. Czysz helped evaluate and select a design that provides a solid foundation for commercial flights to space.
After four years of research, Canadian Arrow decided to base its next rocket vehicle on a hypersonic glider Czysz helped test in the early 1960s known as the Flight Dynamics Laboratory 7 (FDL-7). The new version, the Silver Dart, is a 45-foot-long, eight-person hypersonic glider.
The Silver Dart design will be submitted to NASA for its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) proposal, which was unveiled earlier this month. The space agency announced that it would spend $500 million over the next four years subsidizing the development of commercial services for delivering cargo and possibly people to the International Space Station.
The design also will serve as the basis for a reusable vehicle to take paying passengers into space.
“The Silver Dart allows us to build on the work we are now doing with our Canadian Arrow rocket,” said Geoff Sheerin, president and CEO of PlanetSpace. “A cluster of 10 Canadian Arrow rocket engines provide the 700,000 pounds of thrust needed to boost the Silver Dart to orbit. PlanetSpace is one of only a handful of organizations that can provide this kind of thrust in a booster vehicle.”
After the first manned flights of the Canadian Arrow rocket, PlanetSpace will focus on developing a heavy lift booster to pave the way for the first flights of the Silver Dart to orbit. Early tests will include the completion of a suborbital version of the Silver Dart.
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A computer rendering of the inside of the craft.
Photo provided by PlanetSpace |
Specifications for the Silver Dart were completed in 2001, anticipating the need for a new transport vehicle to service the International Space Station. Proposals for the NASA’s COTS initiative are due Feb. 10.
President of his own aerospace consulting firm, HyperTech Concepts, Czysz said the FDL-7-class of hypersonic gliders proved to be inherently stable from Mach 22 to landing. That design grew out of research started in the 1950s by the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory, where Czysz worked from 1956-1963.
“When the government decided to exclude the military from space developments, the significance of this design was lost,” Czysz said.
Now that the significance of this design has been rediscovered, PlanetSpace Chairman Dr Chirinjeev Kathuria believes the Silver Dart is just the beginning.
“We have always stated that PlanetSpace will have both suborbital and orbital vehicles in our company,” Kathuria said. “The Silver Dart is the beginning of the orbital vehicle needed to provide different services and capabilities for our customers, as well as respond to NASA’s request for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS).”
A member of the PlanetSpace board of advisers, Czysz will help guide development of the Silver Dart at Canadian Arrow. He also recently co-authored a book with Claudio Bruno on the history of the FDL-7 program. Published by Springer-PRAXIS, “Future Space Craft Propulsion Systems” will be available March 2006.
PlanetSpace Corporation is an international joint venture created by Dr Chirinjeev Kathuria, his affiliated companies and Canadian Arrow, to capitalize upon a variety of both developed and undeveloped commercial, consumer and industrial spaceflight markets. PlanetSpace expects to be the first company to launch commercial passengers to suborbital space and in the first five years of flight expects to create at least 2,000 “citizen explorers.”
For more information, visit www.planetspace.org. Images of the Silver Dart are available upon request.
CONTACTS
- Geoff Sheerin, president and CEO, PlanetSpace: (519) 671 2690
- Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria, chairman, PlanetSpace: (630) 240 9958
- Paul Czysz, professor emeritus, Saint Louis University: (314) 540-5647
