PlanetSpace was a privately funded Chicago-based
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
and
space travel project founded by Geoff Sheerin, CEO of the
Canadian Arrow corporation. The owner is Dr.
Chirinjeev Kathuria.
In February, 2007,
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
announced plans to provide PlanetSpace with requirements and specifications to provide crew and cargo flights to the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...
under the terms of the
National Aeronautics and Space Act
The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 () is the United States federal statute that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Act, which followed close on the heels of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union ...
. Initially PlanetSpace planned to use the Silver Dart for this purpose,
but on 21 November 2007 PlanetSpace announced its
COTS proposal would use a spacecraft provided by
Lockheed Martin.
[
] This proposal did not include use of the Silver Dart.
Background
![Canadian Arrow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Canadian_Arrow.jpg)
The mission of PlanetSpace was to make space travel accessible to the general public. The company focused its main efforts on two major projects: the
Canadian Arrow, and the Silver Dart, which was a proposed orbital
spaceplane
A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide like an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and maneuver like a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplanes te ...
.
[
]
Geoff Sheerin, President of Canadian Arrow and Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria, two entrepreneurs with a love of space, joined forces to create PLANETSPACE in the spring of 2005. At a press conference in May 2005 in London Ontario Canada, Sheerin told the United Press International that Canadian Arrow was nearing completion and that it was missing only one important component in its plan to develop its space tourism business: money. Geoff Sheerin proudly announced, "We have found our Paul Allen". Presenting the newly formed company PlanetSpace and his new partner Dr.Chirinjeev Kathuria.
Dr. Kathuria was a founding director of MirCorp, the company that made history on April 4, 2000 when it launched the world's first privately funded manned space program and signed up Dennis Tito to space as Earth's first space tourist or citizen explorer. MirCorp was a joint venture with RSC Energia. RSC Energia launched the first satellite (Sputnik), sent the first man to orbit the Earth (Yuri Gagarin), built the Mir Space Station, and is a major partner in the International Space Station.
Canadian Arrow
The Canadian Arrow is a 16.5 m tall two-stage rocket, where the second stage is a three-person space capsule. In a somewhat conservative approach, the design of the rocket engine and aerodynamics are based on the well proven
V-2
The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develope ...
design from
WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The vehicle will launch vertically from the ground, on a
sub-orbital
A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital re ...
trajectory, and will return to Earth via parachutes and make a water landing, similar to the
splashdown
Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft by parachute in a body of water. It was used by crewed American space capsules prior to the Space Shuttle program, by SpaceX Dragon and Dragon 2 capsules and by NASA's Orion Multipurpose Crew ...
s of the
Mercury,
Gemini
Gemini may refer to:
Space
* Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac
** Gemini in Chinese astronomy
* Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program
* Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Norther ...
and
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...
spacecraft.
Silver Dart
![H silver dart land 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/H_silver_dart_land_02.1.jpg)
Based on the FDL-7, a
lifting body
A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage ...
aircraft designed for
near earth orbital flight by the
US Airforce Flight Dynamics Laboratory,
[
] the Silver Dart was a
lifting body
A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage ...
concept designed to glide from
hypersonic speeds of
Mach 22 down to landing. The goal was to develop an orbital space craft/hypersonic glider capable of carrying around eight passengers. The spacecraft was expected to
launch vertically atop a two-stage-plus-boosters rocket, propelled at takeoff by 28 Canadian Arrow
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
engines (slightly updated replicas of the German
V-2
The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develope ...
engine) and
land horizontally on an aircraft runway, in an arrangement reminiscent of the
Dynasoar project by NASA.
NASA based its
Martin Marietta X-24B Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austr ...
test aircraft on the FDL-7 lifting body, and valued the added range and stability of the sleek, sharp-nosed design. FDL-7's lifting body design was projected to be able to give the Silver Dart about twice the lift coefficient of NASA's space shuttles at subsonic speeds. The design was expected to have a higher glide and cross range than the Shuttle Orbiter, since it was designed with a 4,000 mile cross range.
The ship was intended to use a metal skin that would be more resistant to weather conditions than the
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...
.
PlanetSpace planned for an initial demonstration flight in 2009.
[
]
Athena III
In early 2008 PlanetSpace proposed the
Athena III
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of va ...
launch vehicle, a 2.8-million-pound-thrust
ISS
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (J ...
resupply rocket, to NASA under the rebid of the
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) was a NASA program to coordinate the development of vehicles for the delivery of crew and cargo to the International Space Station by private companies. The program was announced on January 18, 200 ...
(COTS) program.
The
Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster
The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) was the first solid-propellant rocket to be used for primary propulsion on a vehicle used for human spaceflight. A pair of these provided 85% of the Space Shuttle's thrust at liftoff and for the first ...
(SRB) derived rocket was to feature 2 1/2 segments from the SRB, and was to be realized in a joint venture with
Lockheed Martin and
Alliant Techsystems (ATK).
The PlanetSpace proposal was not accepted for NASA funding. On February 19, 2008, the second round award was made to
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...
, for the
Cygnus spacecraft
Cygnus is an expendable American cargo spacecraft developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation and now manufactured and launched by Northrop Grumman Space Systems as part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program. It is launched by Nor ...
.
[
] NASA's selection statement showed that Orbital beat PlanetSpace on funding concerns.
In October 2008, PlanetSpace, Lockheed Martin and ATK teamed up with
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
and the
State of Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...
to obtain private financing for the project outside the NASA funding they did not obtain.
[
]
Dissolved for non-compliance
PlanetSpace had its incorporated status revoked by the Canadian government for non-compliance under section 212 of the Canadian Business Corporations Act on 6 February 2013. The government's documents showed that PlanetSpace's last annual meeting occurred in 2010, and that was also the last time the corporation reported its annual filings.
[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Planetspace
Defunct technology companies of Canada
Defunct spaceflight companies
Defunct companies based in Chicago