Boeing and Lockheed Martin have received US Air Force contracts to begin developing technologies and concepts for a military spaceplane.
The Integrated Technology Testbed programme is aimed at demonstrating military-spaceplane operational concepts early next century.
Boeing's demonstrator concept uses a re-usable rapid-response launch vehicle, derived from the McDonnell Douglas DC-X, which would carry a piggyback re-usable orbiter based on Boeing's Refly Space Maneuver Vehicle.
The DC-X would take off vertically, release the Refly, then land vertically. The Refly would continue into orbit, then re-enter to land conventionally on a runway.
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works' concept would mount the Refly vehicle on the back of a spaceplane derived from the X-33 technology demonstrator which it is developing for NASA. The X-33 is a half-scale prototype of the proposed VentureStar re-usable vehicle.
Source: Flight International
