Space Travel

Companies of Intrest

SpaceX

• Known for making vertical launch systems reusable and far cheaper than the competition by using retrorockets for landing the boosters, and catching the aerodynamic fearings in large nets
• Their Website

Copenhagen Suborbitals

• A hobbyiest group attempting human spaceflight
• User:Eric speaking here, on my personal, non business youtube account (i think, i'll double check just in case) i asked and they said they wanted to be open source, but had to not be due to the risk of missile development by nefarious groups
• Their Website

Rocket Lab

• A company who makes the Electron Launch Vehicle, which is one of, if not the, smallest orbital launch platforms
• This is useful, as many payloads, such as Cubesats need to get to orbit, but do not need a large launch payload overall
• Thus the Electron Launch Vehicle saves money for groups looking to launch small payloadss, and lowers the barriers to entry into the feild
• Their Website

Bigelow Aerospace

• A group specializing in Inflatable Space Habitats, which allow for large space habitats with relitively small launch volumes
• Their Website

Reaction Engines Limited

• A group specializing in combined cycle, precooled hypersonic engines
• Their main development is Skylon, a SSTO HTOL Spaceplane
• Skylon is an ofshoot of the British Aerospace HOTOL Program
• If successful, this will allow for heavily reusable, and safe delivery of cargo, and human payloads to orbit, on a reliable basis
• Also the horizontal takeoff and landing is more familiar to the average person, and thus may be more approachable to the average person than vertical launch solutions

Quicklaunch

• This company has been put on hold, mostly due to spaceX reducing its place in the market, but it still may have a place
• This is a company that proposed a SpaceGun utilising a Light Gas Gun based of hydrogen as the light gas being pushed, and natural gas for the explosive push
• it would consist of a 1.1 km long pipe submerged in a body of water at an angle. It would accelerate payloads to around 6km/s. A small booster would be used for circularizing the orbit, but price would be dramatically reduced
• This would not be human rated, but it could be very beneficial for resupply and/or fuel depot refueling
• This would also have a rather fast relaunch time as all that is needed is the insertion of a new payload, and gas repressurization
• Barrel wear is one concern
• Some groups propose the use of a coilgun or railgun for a similar but electric approach, which especially makes sense in enviroments with lots of sunlight (for electricity generation), and low temperature + air pressure. Earth's moon is one such place
• The Wikipedia Page on Quicklaunch

See Also

• Open Source Spacecraft Construction Set

Useful Links

• Their Website