Episode 577: AstroClipper: Plans For A Two-Stage, Fully Reusable Spaceplane

Even as the first rockets were launched into space decades ago, aerospace knew it was a wasteful process. Rocket stages, motors, and complex equipment crashed into the ocean or burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Could spaceplanes bring the costs down? Flying to orbit with a combination of jet engines and rockets and then safely re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere again.

Single-stage to orbit spacecraft and spaceplanes have always seemed out of reach, and actually not that practical. But what about a two-stage, fully reusable spaceplane?

Exodus Space Corporation has been secretly working on this concept for a decade now, and what they’re proposing is pretty revolutionary.

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Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / [email protected]

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References:

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4407/vol4/cover.pdf

https://io9.gizmodo.com/early-design-specs-show-the-space-shuttle-could-have-be-1528524224

https://www.exodus-space.com/

https://www.exodus-space.com/astroclipper/

http://fiso.spiritastro.net/telecon/Ayala_10-9-19/Ayala_10-9-19.pdf

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