Private Dream Chaser Space plane to launch 1st Orbital flight in 2016

Here's the latest about Dreamchaser per Space.com

"A commercial spaceflight company will launch the first orbital test flight of its private space plane Dream Chaser in 2016, a unmanned debut mission to prove the spaceship is capable of flying astronauts on round-trip flights into space."

I seem to remember there were about 30 different private Space companies; I actually count 35 worldwide. Only two companies are listed as "operational" and that's SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, the rest, including Dream Chaser, are in various stages of testing or development.

I think the next great revolution is about to happen, the last one being the Industrial Revolution. Maybe we should call the next one the "Galactic Revolution."

What say you, ATS?

www.space.com..."

I really wish space tourism was at a stage where it was not only viable, but affordable. Some days I'd give a limb to jump off this stupid rock and get away from the madness.

Space exploration/tourism won't be mature, in my opinion, until someone has figured out how to bring back the goodies from space and make a fortune. Minerals, helium, habitable real estate...once profiting from those are figured out, that's when I'll be able to book a flight to Gliese 667Cc, at only 22.7 light years away.

reply to post by FatherStacks


Yeah, a space elevator would go a ways to further our space efforts. The biggest obstacle is getting out of the gravity well. The engineering of rockets is complex and costly ... having a cheap, effective way to get into orbit would hurry things along immeasurably and an elevator to an orbiting platform is feasible now with carbon fibers and other stronger materials.

How neat would a series of space elevators encircling the equator be?

reply to post by FatherStacks


There has to be a complete overhaul of Math and the Sciences before we make that happen. I do hold out hope though. A trip to the system with the Gliese planets would be nice. Was it Gliese F or G that was said to be the most like Earth? I don't remember which one.

reply to post by Baddogma


Space elevators would be equal parts really cool and scary as hell. Could you imagine getting stuck 3/4 the way up? Space exploration should be the thing that unites us all...what's better than a fruitful quest for awesomeness? Why isn't it a reality already? Gosh darn it, it's the 21st century!

reply to post by lostbook


Not sure if it was F or G. I became entranced with an artist's rendition of 667Cc, it's supposed to be about 85% similar to Earth, 4 times as big and has 3 stars. Sounds familiar enough to be inviting, yet different enough to be worth the trip...but I dunno. Certainly not my area of expertise.

Another business to make money off the government. Good money there.

Baddogma
reply to post by FatherStacks

 

Yeah, a space elevator would go a ways to further our space efforts. The biggest obstacle is getting out of the gravity well. The engineering of rockets is complex and costly ... having a cheap, effective way to get into orbit would hurry things along immeasurably and an elevator to an orbiting platform is feasible now with carbon fibers and other stronger materials.

How neat would a series of space elevators encircling the equator be?

I still think that a Moon outpost where we can mine materials needed for transport: fuel, water, etc would be ideal. We could assemble the ships in L.E.O. or at a Lagrange point and fuel/ energy consumption would be much less because you would not need to contend with Earth's gravity. Even better to have a Space Elevator and the L.E.O.assembly port work together. After passengers are lifted via Space elevator to the L.E.O.port where the spaceships would be built/ dock, they could depart for interplanetary excursions. It's a little ambitious but feasible since it would pay off in the long-term.

FatherStacks
I really wish space tourism was at a stage where it was not only viable, but affordable. Some days I'd give a limb to jump off this stupid rock and get away from the madness.

Space exploration/tourism won't be mature, in my opinion, until someone has figured out how to bring back the goodies from space and make a fortune. Minerals, helium, habitable real estate...once profiting from those are figured out, that's when I'll be able to book a flight to Gliese 667Cc, at only 22.7 light years away.

I second this. It would be nice if everyone were capable of taking a trip like this, but sadly it's just another luxury for the rich ATM. Hopefully, in the not so distant future it will be more affordable because I'd definitely like to add it to my bucket list.

If we as a species switched our world view from that of an individual country based society (ethnicity etc) and worked together as one cohesive entity (fat chance, a lot of things would have to happen). If we funneled every dollar spent on war in the last 10 years into space exploration. If every country set their sights on this and worked together (pooling resources). We would be flying to amusement parks on the moon in 10 or 15 years hahaha.

New Rocket Engine Could Reach Mars in 40 Days

A company founded by former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz has been developing a new rocket engine that draws upon electric power and magnetic fields to channel superheated plasma out the back. That stream of plasma generates steady, efficient thrust that uses low amounts of propellant and builds up speed over time.

"People have known for a long time, even back in the '50s, that electric propulsion would be needed for serious exploration of Mars," said Tim Glover, director of development at the Ad Astra Rocket Company.

What would happen if we threw 50 billion dollars at them (^) or at companies similar to them. I think the economy would have to change drastically as well though. One can dream

lostbook
reply to post by FatherStacks

 

There has to be a complete overhaul of Math and the Sciences before we make that happen. I do hold out hope though. A trip to the system with the Gliese planets would be nice. Was it Gliese F or G that was said to be the most like Earth? I don't remember which one.

Gliese is a catalog of stars.

There are many stars which carry the Gliese name as a result. They have numbers after them to differentiate. Sort of how the Kepler stars are called Kepler 7, Kepler 10, Kepler 22. Etc

The most common stellar catalogs are Gliese (GL), Henry Drape (HD), Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), Hipparcos (HIP).

The planet you're probably thinking of is Gliese 581g

Here are the most Earthlike planets according to the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at Arecibo.

Earth has an (Earth Similarity Index rating of 1.0 naturally):



There are also some tantalizing Kepler planet candidates (Kepler Objects of Interest or KOI) awaiting confirmation. Some have ESI ratings as high as .90+



The distances between the stars are amazingly vast and not something we're likely to bridge in a short period of time, any time soon.

That will remain sci-fi probably for another couple hundred years.

AzureSky

What would happen if we threw 50 billion dollars at them (^) or at companies similar to them. I think the economy would have to change drastically as well though. One can dream

Then we'd have viable plasma pulse engines.

lostbook
Here's the latest about Dreamchaser per Space.com

"A commercial spaceflight company will launch the first orbital test flight of its private space plane Dream Chaser in 2016, a unmanned debut mission to prove the spaceship is capable of flying astronauts on round-trip flights into space."

I seem to remember there were about 30 different private Space companies; I actually count 35 worldwide. Only two companies are listed as "operational" and that's SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, the rest, including Dream Chaser, are in various stages of testing or development.

What say you, ATS?

www.space.com..."

You might be interested in this Popular Mechanics article:

The 7 Ships of the New Space Age


The first one listed, XCOR Aerospace's Lynx takes off from a runway like a normal plane then engages a rocket at high altitude. It's only for suborbital flights like Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.

The Dream Chaser is notable because it will actually go into orbit and could ferry astronauts to the ISS.