JAPAN STUDYING REUSABLE SPACE PLANE PROJECT START

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March 13, 2000

This spring, Japan’s Space Activities Commission of the Prime Minister's Office will examine a project to build a craft that takes off like an airplane and can travel through outer space. The plan is to build an unmanned craft. The planned two-stage space plane would consist of an upper stage equipped with a rocket engine and wings, while the lower stage would be able to fly at hypersonic speeds to launch the space plane. The lower stage would be equipped with a modified version of a jet engine. Using the engine, the lower part would rise to an altitude of 30,000 meters at a speed of Mach 6. After separating from the bottom stage, the upper craft would ignite its rocket and fly into outer space. Both lower and upper stages would land like ordinary airplanes and be used repeatedly. The launcher would measure 65 meters in length, 30 meters in width (from wing tip to wing tip) and weigh 140 tons. The upper stage would measure 39 meters in length, 17 meters in width and weigh 130 tons. It would be able to carry eight tons of freight into orbit to an altitude of 500 kilometers. The project would be jointly carried out by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of the Education Ministry (ISAS), the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Science and Technology Agency, and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). Universities and private companies are also expected to participate in the project.

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March 13, 2000

Andrews Space & Technology