On Sat, Aug 25, 2001 at 10:36:21AM -0700, Robert J. Bradbury wrote:
> It looks like India may be getting into the space development
> business. They've designed a reusable space plane (the Avatar)
> that they claim will significantly lower launch costs for 1 ton
> satellites (much bigger than what we need to bring back an asteroid).
>
> URL: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/india-01i.html
>
> The key trick is to gather and liquefy the oxygen in the air
> rather than carrying it up from the surface. They say the idea is
> based on a Rand report published in 1987.
>
> Anyone have any comments on why this idea hasn't been pursued
> more seriously in the U.S. or Russia?
Ah, somebody managed to get their hands on the HOTOL blueprints.
Or Alan Bond has decided to move to Delhi.
(HOTOL was a British design for, um, exactly this -- developed during the
1980's, went public in 1987 when BAe tentatively proposed it as a Concorde
follow-on project, and filed some interesting patents. HM Government
classified the patents "top secret" to stop anyone else getting their
hands on them ... then declined to fund the project. Classic example of
the Thatcher government's attitude to space technology -- i.e. generally
doing their best to ignore it.)
-- Charlie
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