http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1368000/1
368674.stm

Monday, 4 June, 2001, 12:59 GMT 13:59 UK
The future of flight

Mark Ward

Ladies and gentlemen, the aerospace industry would like
to apologise for the continued delays to all flights for
orbital destinations.

Delays are due to an acute shortage of personnel and
aircraft capable of reaching the high altitudes and
speeds required. Passengers can transfer to
government-run rocket flights to orbit, but they should
be aware that a supplement of approximately $20 million
will be added to the standard fare.

The industry would like to take this opportunity to thank
passengers for their patience in waiting over 40 years
for a commercial flight to the edge of the atmosphere,
low orbit space stations or more distant destinations.

Unforeseen cancellations of development projects and a
severe shortage of development funds have prompted these
severe delays. However, recent improvements in the
climate of opinion could mean your space plane will be
ready for boarding in the very near future.

Rocket men

Flight, more than almost any other endeavour, is the
realisation of our dreams. Unaided we cannot fly, but
strap us inside the right kind of machine and we soar.

But, like all dreams, it does not survive reality intact.
Funding shortfalls and political wrangles can leave us
locked to this rock.

And nowhere is this more true than with space flight.

Over 40 years ago many aerospace firms and government
agencies had developed craft that regularly smashed the
sound barrier and touched the edge of space before flying
back to Earth.

In October 1967 the X-15 experimental aircraft set an
unbeaten speed record of Mach 6.7. The aircraft also set
altitude records and seemed to be, literally, blazing a
trail for low cost, reliable access to space.

But the demands of the race to the Moon drained other
programmes of money, as well as backing from space
agencies and companies that space planes were the way to
go. As a result, flight into orbit became all about
sitting on top of a huge rocket and hoping for the best.

Waste of space

But using a rocket to get into space is a hugely wasteful
enterprise. Rockets burn vast amounts of fuel, are hard
to control and don't get re-used.

"Using a rocket to get into space is a bit like
sending your granny for an ocean cruise on a
torpedo," said David Ashford, head of Bristol
Spaceplanes and a man who has worked on low cost access
to space for decades.

Mr Ashford worked at Hawker Siddeley back in the 1960s
and was part of a team researching a hypersonic craft
that could effectively fly to space and return for a
fraction of the cost of a rocket trip.

Re-useable spaceplanes powered by high-performance jet
engines have huge advantages over rockets. The engines
they use to reach the edge of space have been proven to
be much easier to control, maintain and refuel.

Flying high

Mr Ashford is currently looking for development money to
create test versions of the Ascender, Spacecab and
Spacebus planes that he and his team have designed. The
first of these, the Ascender, would use conventional, but
adapted, jet engines to reach altitudes of over 100
kilometres (62 miles) and spearhead space tourism.

Bristol Spaceplanes is not the only firm aiming high.
About 20 companies are competing for the X-Prize which
gives a cash reward to the first group to fly a
privately-funded, manned craft to 100 km and back. Twice.
In a fortnight.

Many of the firms competing for the prize only need a few
million to prove they can do it. Mr Ashford claims he
could do it for about £50 million because he would use
proven jet technology. By contrast Nasa is spending £120m
($185m) just to test its hypersonic craft.

Space hotel

Other firms competing include Kistler Aerospace which is
already testing its spacecraft, and Bigelow Aerospace set
up by hotel-owner Robert Bigelow who wants to open a
branch in space.

"The winner will be the first small company to get
the money," said Mr Ashford.

Dennis Tito's flight to the space station has got people
thinking more seriously than ever about space planes. The
modest amount of money needed to prove it can be done
could mean that soon space flight becomes as common as
intercontinental flights.

After all, the distance from London to Australia is about
17,000 kilometres, but the space station is only about
400 kilometres up. Join the queue.