DARPA has selected Boeing to design and build the experimental spaceplane XS-1 intended to provide rapid and low cost space access for laun...
DARPA has selected Boeing to design and build the experimental spaceplane XS-1 intended to provide rapid and low cost space access for launching satellites to low-earth orbits.
Dubbed the Phantom Express, the XS-1 will be a combination of traditional airplane and conventional launch vehicle. The reusable spaceplane is integrated with a expendable upper stage rocket on top of the fuselage, carrying the payload.
The XS-1 program envisions a fully reusable unmanned vehicle, which would take off vertically like a rocket and fly to hypersonic speeds. The vehicle would be launched with no external boosters, powered solely by self-contained cryogenic propellants. Upon reaching a high suborbital altitude, the booster would release an expendable upper stage able to deploy a 3,000 pound/1,361 kg satellite to polar orbit.
The reusable first stage would then bank and return to Earth, landing horizontally like an aircraft, and be prepared for the next flight, potentially within hours.
DARPA and Boeing are planning to conduct a flight test demonstration of XS-1 technology, flying 10 times in 10 days, with an additional final flight carrying the upper-stage payload delivery system. If successful, the program could help enable a commercial service in the future that could operate with recurring costs of as little as $5 million or less per launch.
Watch the #PhantomExpress Spaceplane take off, deploy a small sat and land back on the tarmac like an airplane: https://t.co/8pw3kPOJFc pic.twitter.com/VA6ZJBHpxm
— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) May 24, 2017
The Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-22 engine, a version of the legacy Space Shuttle main engine, would power the spaceplane. It is designed to be reusable and operates using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuel.
Phantom Express would offer an advanced airframe design as well as third-generation thermal protection to create a vehicle capable of flying at high flight velocity, while carrying a smaller, more affordable expendable upper stage to achieve the mission objectives.
The Phase 1 will design the spaceplane, while the Phase 2 and Phase 3 will result in fabrication, flight respectively.Other technologies in the XS-1 design include:
- Advanced, lightweight composite cryogenic propellant tanks to hold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants
- Hybrid composite-metallic wings and control surfaces able to withstand the physical stresses of suborbital hypersonic flight and temperatures of more than 2,000o F
- Automated flight-termination and other technologies for autonomous flight and operations, including some developed by DARPA’s Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA) program
XS-1 Phase 2 includes design, construction, and testing of the technology demonstration vehicle through 2019. It calls for initially firing the vehicle’s engine on the ground 10 times in 10 days to demonstrate propulsion readiness for flight tests.
Phase 3 objectives include 12 to 15 flight tests, currently scheduled for 2020. After multiple shakedown flights to reduce risk, the XS-1 would aim to fly 10 times over 10 consecutive days, at first without payloads and at speeds as fast as Mach 5.
Subsequent flights are planned to fly as fast as Mach 10, and deliver a demonstration payload between 900 pounds and 3,000 pounds into low Earth orbit.
