FLACON - Future High-Altitude Flight - an Attractive Commercial Niche?
Overview
Background & policy context:
While the common understanding of the European community is that sub-orbital high-altitude flight is technically feasible within a few years, building on the available knowledge in aviation, it has never been proven experimentally. The USA have achieved an air-launched X-vehicle with SS1, which, however, requires significant effort before becoming a commercial, routinely used transport vehicle such as SS2. Such sub-orbital flight is also understood to be on the borderline to space, since the transport of people is approaching the orbital environment without really entering it fully in the sense of having to master the harsh environment of hypersonic re-entry into the atmosphere. According to reports the interest in the USA and elsewhere in high-altitude flying is very large in spite of the high price, suggesting a profitable niche for commercial flight and triggering innovation in small industries to satisfy such demand.
Objectives:
The objective of the study was to identify and assess the long-term potential of commercial high-altitude flight in Europe for selected mission requirements, in view of the activities in the USA following the successful SpaceShipOne (SS1) demonstration and the efforts performed to arrive at the next generation SpaceShip2 as well as aspirations by other companies. Furthermore, it was proposed to identify for Europe missing developments in technology and address safety measures as well as needed steps to satisfy legislation. A corresponding research and development strategy to enable commercial high-altitude flights would be worked out in order to secure the international competitiveness of European industries.
Key objectives were:
- assess worldwide activities and define reasonable mission requirements;
- identify potential show stoppers, technical but in particular non-technical ones, and missing elements for carrying out commercial high-altitude flight;
- propose a way forward to achieve commercial sub-orbital flight, including potential self-sustained development steps leading to human hypersonic flight, and a funding scenario for a first experimental flight.
Methodology:
The topics dealt with in this project were:
- To evaluate the mission opportunities of sub-orbital, potentially commercial flights based on the review of available publications and existing in-house performed work.
- To review the technical and non-technical elements required for sub-orbital flights, and to identify problems or missing elements/technologies. This includes the investigation of what has to be achieved in terms of legal issues, and other non-technology topics to be able to fly, and without too many restrictions regarding flying over land and inhabited areas. Another topic is the estimation of costs associated with sub-orbital flight based on selected mission opportunities. This would include the rough costing of a first experimental flight.
- To investigate the possibility of an air launch for sub-orbital flight, including the effect on costs in the short and long term, and whether the launching carrier could be used for other purposes. The task would include choosing a launching strategy.
- To summarise the experiences gained in the work on topics 1 to 3 by performing a synthesis and attempting a roadmap, including a rough scheduling of necessary events.
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