SPACE PLANE OPERATION

ATRX Space Planes will take off from a runway, fly into space and then land again on a runway. By operating with simple ground infrastructure requirements and being fully reusable—much like regular aircraft—these vehicles are expected to significantly reduce the cost of accessing space and offer lead times that are dramatically shorter than current launch systems.

ATRX plans to develop two types of Space Planes—first, an uncrewed Space Plane for applications such as small satellite launch, and then, a crewed Space Plane for human activities in space. Shown below is the operation of a Space Plane on a small satellite launch mission. A crewed Space Plane would operate in a similar way.

 

Payload Integration
A small satellite launch mission starts with integration of the satellites into the payload bay of the uncrewed Space Plane.

 
 

Taxi to Runway
After payload integration and propellant loading, the vehicle taxis or is towed to the runway.

 
 

Takeoff on ATR Power
The Space Plane accelerates and takes off using Air Turbo Rocket engines. These high-thrust, “air-breathing” engines are mounted in nacelles under the fuselage.

 
 

Acceleration to Mach 5 on ATR Power
The Space Plane accelerates using Air Turbo Rocket propulsion to approximately Mach 5 at the edge of space.

The ATRs are shut down at this point as the vehicle speed and altitude approach the operating limits of this engine.

 
 

Continued Acceleration on Rocket Power
The conventional rocket engine is started and accelerates the vehicle through the vacuum of space to orbital velocity, about 17,400 mph.

 
 

Payload Deployment
Once in orbit, the payload bay door of the Space Plane opens and the small satellites are deployed into space.

 
 

Re-Entry and Runway Landing
The vehicle then performs a de-orbit burn to reduce its speed and re-enters the upper reaches of the atmosphere. It then decelerates in the atmosphere using its wings and lands on a runway.

Within a few hours, the Space Plane propellants tanks can be refilled, additional satellites loaded and another mission to space can be performed.

 

Benefits of Aircraft-Like Operation
Full reusability and simple, aircraft-like logistics make the ATRX Space Planes appealing as a next-generation launch system due to several key factors.

  • Low infrastructure costs - Vehicles can take off and land on any of thousands of existing runways, eliminating the need for expensive, dedicated launch facilities.

  • Low recurring costs - The entire vehicle can be re-used, like a normal aircraft. This is a significant improvement over existing systems which require that portions of the vehicle or even the entire vehicle be manufactured for each mission.

  • Low cost of ground operations - Space Planes can be towed using conventional aircraft tugs and are, by design, complete vehicles. As a result, there is no need for specialized ground transportation equipment or complex and time-consuming vehicle assembly operations.

  • High launch rate - The processing steps required to prepare a Space Plane for a mission will be similar to those of a conventional aircraft. Therefore, the vehicle might only require days, or even hours, of processing time between flights.

  • Highly responsive - A small fleet of vehicles performing missions on a frequent basis could support call-up times for high-priority missions of as short as several hours - redefining the meaning of “responsive” and “on-demand” launch services.

Based on the these factors, ATRX’s Space Planes are expected to make a significant contribution to how we access and use space in the future.