Prometheus (spacecraft)

Prometheus was a proposed crewed vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing (VTHL) lifting body spaceplane concept put forward by Orbital Sciences Corporation in late 2010 as part of the second phase of NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program.

Design

The Prometheus design was based on an earlier NASA design, the HL-20 Personnel Launch System.
Prometheus also included other NASA-funded design improvements to HL-20 by Orbital Sciences that were done some years ago as part of NASA's Orbital Space Plane program.
Whereas the HL-20 was a pure lifting body,
the Prometheus design was for a Blended Lifting Body (BLB).
This design combines volumetric efficiency with superior aerodynamic qualities.

Prometheus could have initially carried four astronauts to the International Space Station or future commercial space stations but further development could have increased the seating capacity to six. The baselined launch vehicle was the Atlas V, but the design could have accommodated other launch vehicles. The cost of the development of the Prometheus spacecraft and of upgrading the Atlas V would be between $3.5 and $4 billion.Businesses Take Flight, With Help From NASA
New York Times, 2011-1-31, accessed 2011-02-28

Commercial Crew Development program

The Vertical Takeoff, Horizontal Landing (VTHL) vehicle would be launched on a human-rated Atlas V rocket but would land on a runway.Orbital Proposes Spaceplan for Astronauts
''Wall Street Journal'', December 14, 2010, accessed December 15, 2010. The initial design would carry a crew of four, but it could carry up to six people or a combination of crew and cargo. In addition to Orbital Sciences, the consortium included Northrop Grumman that would have built the spaceplane and the United Launch Alliance that would have provided the launch vehicle.Jumping into the New Space Race, Orbital Sciences Unveils Mini-Shuttle Spaceplane Design
''Popular Science'', 2010-12-16, accessed 2010-12-18. ''"Orbital Sciences isn't the kind of independent, private, "new space" enterprise as, say, SpaceX. It's a consortium of defense and aviation heavy-hitters: Northrop would build the plane, and the rockets would be provided by United Launch Alliance (read: Boeing and Lockheed)."'' Virgin Galactic also confirmed it would be teaming with Orbital on the Orbital CCDev 2 project.Virgin joins forces with two companies on CCDev
''NewSpace Journal'', 2010-12-16, accessed 2010-12-18. After failing to be selected for a CCDev phase 2 award by NASA, Orbital announced in April 2011 it would likely wind down its efforts to develop a commercial crew vehicle.

See also

* Dream Chaser (spacecraft) - another HL-20 derived proposed spacecraft put forward in 2010 by Sierra Nevada Corporation

References

External links

A Blended Lifting Body Aerodynamic Design for the Orbital Space Plane
Henri D. Fuhrmann, AIAA-2003-3807, June 2003.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prometheus (spacecraft)
Spaceplanes
Private spaceflight
Proposed spacecraft