DARPA is developing a reusable drone to deliver satellites into orbit

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    DARPA recently published information about its next project, a supersonic drone, which, according to the plan, should “throw” satellites into orbit. It was calculated that the cost of such delivery will be ten times lower than in the case of the usual process of space transportation of goods.

    Of course, the idea is still in a concept state, however, DARPA is already engaged in calculating the possibility of implementing such a project. By the way, the project has already received the name, XS-1 (Experimental Spaceplane). Such an orbiter will be able to throw small and medium satellites into a low orbit.

    It is worth noting that earlier, the same NASA had a similar project, which appeared back in 1999. That project was called the X-34, and its development was stopped due to the high cost of the project. Then came the X-37B project, within the framework of which it was planned to create a robotic spacecraft that could remain in orbit for months and years. None of these projects have been implemented, for a number of reasons, the main of which was an insufficient amount of finance.

    Perhaps the XS-1 project will nevertheless be "born", and the orbital supersonic drone will work. In the meantime, the authors of the project are discussing its details, so that the implementation stage is still quite far.

    Via DARPA

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