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NOS news•today, 10:02 PM
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Ivo Landman
Text editor online
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Ivo Landman
Text editor online
It is a prototype and the new space plane will not reach very high yet. But it is a milestone: the MK-II Aurora, invented by two former students at TU Delft, broke the sound barrier for the first time a week ago. Eventually, a larger version should carry satellites into space.
Tobias Knop and Jeroen Wink started Dawn Aerospace in 2017. “We started with a student project,” they say. “We have developed several rockets for this purpose and we went to Spain to test them. Something you worked on for so long goes into the air, only to go into the sea after 20 minutes .”
Couldn’t that be more sustainable, they thought? “We thought: you should be able to reuse such a rocket. Someone who was more familiar with airplanes thought with us and said how things could be done in a way between – different.”
New Zealand
The idea of space flight was born. It is not a traditional space shuttle that is launched directly into space by rocket. The new aircraft had to be able to take off from a conventional runway.
Theoretically from any airport in the world, but Schiphol is not really a candidate, since the MK-II Aurora does not have a jet engine but a rocket engine. “The great power of that rocket allows it to go quickly, but it makes a lot of noise,” said Wink. “I come from the Haarlemmermeer myself. In terms of noise pollution, that’s not a good idea.”
So the test flights moved to New Zealand. The company now has offices in Delft and Christchurch and makes money from satellite navigation systems. In the meantime, development of the MK-II Aurora continues.
The current prototype, 5 meters long, went faster than the speed of sound for the first time on November 12 at an altitude of 25 kilometers. It is the first private aircraft to achieve that feat since then of ConcordFrench and British supersonic aircraft that was withdrawn from service in 2003.
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Dawn Aerospace
The MK-II Aurora takes off for a test flight -
Dawn Aerospace
The MK-II Aurora during a test flight -
Dawn Aerospace
Pictures taken from the prototype space plane -
Dawn Aerospace
Pictures taken from the prototype space plane
The first flights should take place above 100 kilometers, the formal limit of space, by the middle of next year. Eventually, a larger device 15 meters long and 5 meters wide will be able to carry satellites into space. They must then accelerate under their own power to orbit the Earth, while the space plane returns to the landing strip.
At least, if it comes to that. Many space plane ventures have failed in recent years. XCOR Aerospace wanted to send space tourists into space with the Lynx spacecraft but it went bankrupt in 2017. The same fate happened to Skylon of the British Reaction Engines, and Virgin Orbit, was launched their LauncherOne under a Boeing 747, also bankrupt. A similar concept, Orbital Sciences’ Pegasus, was last flown in 2021.
Wink believes that things at Dawn Aerospace are in better order. Their space plane doesn’t have to go into orbit around the Earth so it doesn’t have to dive 28,000 kilometers into the scorching atmosphere when it returns. This renders heavy brake rockets, large amounts of fuel and heat-resistant materials useless.
Moving for air traffic
And the competition with SpaceX and other companies? Wink is confident. “SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has been reused to some extent, but it is still a traditional rocket that can only be launched from a rocket base. Airplanes must be avoided. We will soon be able to take off and avoid other air traffic .”
Aviation expert Joris Melkert also notes that since the retirement of the American space shuttle in 2011, new, smaller space planes are increasingly appearing in some form or another. China and the US use unmanned microsails for defense purposes, Virgin Galactic takes tourists into space with SpaceShipTwo, the American Stratolaunch Systems is developing the Talon-A space plane and the Dream Chaser, which is planned as a shuttle to space stations, launched. the following year.
“It has been quiet for a while, but it seems that several initiatives are now coming into being. Some of them are successful and some are not,” said Melkert. “Often it’s a combination of plenty stability To have. Not only money, but also manpower. You have to have good people. It’s just literal rocket science, terribly complicated.”
Even with success there is danger, Melkert warns. Because the more space planes, the more emissions. “You release greenhouse gases into the upper layer of the atmosphere, where the impact on climate change is greater than near Earth. So the question is should we have this. I certainly wouldn’t be for big space tourism. “
2024-11-19 21:02:00
#Success #Delft #students #prototype #space #plane #sound #insulation
What are the environmental impacts of increased space travel, particularly regarding greenhouse gas emissions?
What are some of the advancements being made in the field of space exploration through the development of new space planes? How do these developments contribute to both tourism and defense purposes? What are some of the potential environmental implications of increased space travel, such as greenhouse gas emissions? How do the complexities involved in creating a successful space plane contribute to the need for highly skilled individuals in the field of astronautics? As space travel becomes more accessible, what ethical considerations should be taken into account regarding its potential impact on climate change and accessibility for everyday people?
