Rocketplane XP
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The Rocketplane XP is a suborbital spaceplane under development by Rocketplane Limited, Inc.. The XP is based on a heavily-modified Learjet 25 airframe, with changes including the addition of a delta wing and V-tail. The vehicle is powered by two jet engines and a rocket engine, enabling it to reach suborbital space. The XP is designed to operate from existing spaceports in a manner consistent with established commercial aviation practices.
The Rocketplane XP, carrying a pilot and three commercial participants (passengers), will take off from a runway using a jet engine just like regular aircraft and ascend to about 30,000 feet. At this point, a reusable rocket engine powers the XP to altitudes of over 100 km (62 miles). It will give participants a sensation of weightlessness for three to four minutes. These participants will experience the same view previously only known to a select few astronauts. The XP will then reenter Earth’s atmosphere and land at the same spaceport under conventional jet power.
On January 24, 2006 Rocketplane Limited announced a Space Act agreement with NASA Johnson Space Center for the loan of a Rocketdyne RS-88 rocket engine for three years, for use in flight tests of the XP vehicle.
If successful, the XP will prove to be a far more economical and efficient path to suborbital space. The XP’s design gives it two substantial advantages to conventional rocket-only spacecraft:
1. The XP is able to utilize the ambient oxygen in the atmosphere during take-off where traditional rockets (including the space shuttle) depend on stored oxygen while still in Earth's atmosphere.
2. The XP consists of a single reusable craft. There are no accessory modules that require recovery, replacement or servicing. This substantially adds to the crafts flexibility, reduces cost, reduces the required staff and reduces the number of possible failure points.
In addition to the XP, Rocketplane Limited is trying to develop multiple generations of spaceplanes to serve the civilian and military markets based on successful United States Department of Defense (DOD) and NASA awards as well as continued growth in the space tourism market. Howerever the energy and technology gap between a suborbital spaceplane and an orbital one is huge. Even if the suborbital Rocketplane XP is successful, Rocketplane will need a lot of ressources and technology breakthroughs to build an orbital craft.
The XP will operate from the Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark near Burns Flat, Oklahoma.
Critics of the XP have noted numerous flaws with the original conceptual design. The XP is seeking challenges Lockheed did not attempt with the NF-104.
