Modelling > SciFi & Fantasy
Space Fighters
Weaver:
How about marrying that Von-Braun-esque conical booster to a Barnes-Wallis Swallow-style vehicle? The wings could sit down the sides of the booster for take off, sweep forward in orbit to put the reaction controls on their tips as far as possible from the CofG, sweep back again for re-entry, then forward again for landing.
upnorth:
--- Quote from: Weaver on July 02, 2012, 03:50:21 AM ---
Any British equivalent would be hamstrung by the unsuitability of Britain as a launch site (too far north)....
--- End quote ---
Not at all!
Britain would have any one of a number of former colonies in closer geographic proximity to the equator to strike a deal with for setting up a launch site. It would be no different than France shooting their Arianne rockets from Guyana.
India or Malaysia would be perfect places inside the Commonwealth to set up such a launch site. Both are quite close to the equator and both are quite industrialized nations with technically skilled work forces. Not only would you have a good location, you'd also have a good local labour pool to hire from as well to save you from bringing in too many staff directly from Britain.
Definitely doable for Britain
GTX_Admin:
One could also go for a polar orbit.
AGRA:
What about Ascension Island, is very close to the Equator, highly secure, all British and has the most perfect name for a space launching station.
upnorth:
--- Quote from: AGRA on July 21, 2012, 05:05:57 PM ---What about Ascension Island, is very close to the Equator, highly secure, all British and has the most perfect name for a space launching station.
--- End quote ---
Geographically and security wise, it would be very attractive. However, from a logistical and manpower perspective it would get very expensive very quickly.
Everything would have to come in by ship or plane, including much of the food and basic living essentials.
Bringing in the program specific gear by out-sized cargo plane or ship is one thing, doing the same for all the food and basic living staples for a large staff is quite another.
Would it not be better to set up in a place that has enough local industry so that you didn't need to waste valuable cargo space on a ship or plane with toilet paper, soap and whatnot? If you set up where there was a local producer of such basics, you could just use land based transport means to get it to the facility.
Security is great, but save it for the things that really need it. Who's going to hold up a truck full of locally produced toilet paper, toothpaste or other such basic consumables?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version