Darpa Developing a Reusable-Spaceplane

"Previous attempts to develop a reusable launch vehicle have failed, the agency acknowledges, arguing that the late-1980s X-30 and late-1990s X-33 VentureStar never flew because the designs were technically unachievable with the technology available at the time," writes Graham Warwick.

IW Staff

Dec. 3, 2013

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (Darpa) plans to develop a reusable-spaceplane launch vehicle with its new Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program.

However, the goal of the program is not to develop a vehicle exclusively for the U.S. armed services.

"In addition to enabling lower-cost, more responsive launches of U.S. government satellites, Darpa sees the reusable first-stage technology to be demonstrated under the XS-1 program as key to recapturing a commercial launch market lost to foreign competitors," Graham Warwick writes for Aviation Week.

Read the complete article, "Darpa Targets Lower Launch Costs With XS-1 Spaceplane" at Aviation Week, IndustryWeek's sister publication.