ESA to Build Spaceship in Conjunction With the Russians

[Tuckerfan]

Hmm. This design seems a mite familiar. . .

European space scientists are planning to join Russia in constructing an ambitious new manned spaceship, the Clipper. The craft, which would be launched on a standard rocket, would carry up to six astronauts into Earth orbit and return them by gliding back down.

The Clipper has been designed to fly to and from the International Space Station and take crews to spacecraft being assembled in orbit as parts of future manned missions to the Moon and Mars.

[mittu]

Of course the design seems familiar, that’s like saying: “hmmm, this new car design is to have 5 seats, 4 wheels, a steering wheel and an internal combustion engine. That looks a mite familiar.”

You can’t expect them to re-invent space travel just to be original. Gliding back down is the best way to do it, of course they are going to do it that way

[OtakuLoki]

Remember - this device is going to have to be able to do the following:

[ul]
[li]survive re-entry[/li][li]perform a controlled glide from hypersonic speeds to a rather fast, but still subsonic landing speed, without ever losing control - and without any way to add velocity once lost[/li][/ul]

As long as it’s dealing with the same environmental factors that were such a big part of the design considerations for the Space Shuttle, it’s not surprising that it’s going to be a similar design. What I’d like to see would be a design for an aerodynamic lander for an atmosphere like that of Venus.