Here’s a neat idea:
Planetary Science Institute Selects XCOR to Fly Atsa Suborbital Observatory
The Planetary Science Institute (PSI) and XCOR Aerospace have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that lays the groundwork for flying the human-operated Atsa Suborbital Observatory aboard XCOR’s Lynx spacecraft.
The Atsa project will use crewed reusable suborbital spacecraft equipped with a specially designed telescope to provide low-cost space-based observations above the contaminating atmosphere of Earth, while avoiding some operational constraints of satellite telescope systems.
The XCOR “Lynx” is a two-seat suborbital single-stage rocketplane. In its basic form it’s meant to take a single paying customer onto a suborbital “tour,” like a smaller version of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo. But from the beginning it has looked as if the Lynx was intended to do more than just tourism, with cargo (such as orbital upper stages) on its back. In this case, a fair-sized telescope is to be carried. Several minutes of gravity- and atmosphere-free observations should be possible per flight.
XCOR has focussed on reliable and rugged and operational, as opposed to squeezing out every last milli-erg of performance from their rocket engines. If they can do as well with the Lynx airframe, then several flights per day should be practical. The flights might allow rapid turnarounds for repeated observations, or quick changeouts of sensors and the like. Since the launch point is also the landing point, refurb of the payload shouldn’t be a problem.
I would be interested in seeing what the performance potential of the vehicle would be with *both* the telescope payload *and* a paying customer. Certainly the weight hit would be appreciable, but perhaps it would be a profitable venture to offer the passenger seat at a deep discount.
My own dumb idea: years ago I worked for Pioneer Rocketplane, which tried to develop a suborbital rocketplane. The “Pathfinder” would use two turbojets and a single rocket engine; the jets and the rocket engine burned the same kerosene-based fuel. The jets were used to launch the plane off a runway and rendezvous with a tanker aircraft, where all the liquid oxygen the rocket would need would be loaded on board. A competing concept was the Kelly design, which featured a fully-loaded spaceplane towed to altitude behind a 747. So… here’s my unfortunate thought. The Lynx launches itself onto its mission, enters, and begins its glide. It rendezvous with a tanker plane, and grabs onto a combined tow line/refueling line. While being towed, it is both refueled and re-LOXed. Upon separation, it launches itself back into space. Rinse, repeat. For this seup, I’d use a probe-and-drogue for the combined towline/kerosene refueler, with a flying boom for the LOX.
Operational nightmare? You bet!
