this post was submitted on 29 May 2025
38 points (100.0% liked)
Space
254 readers
6 users here now
founded 4 years ago
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
why is every nation now going for this instead of space shuttles? isnt this just a vertical space shuttle?
It's literally just the US and China that are testing this afaik.
The main reason is for saving costs, as they're meant to be fully reusable heavy lift vehicles (capable of putting over 20 tons into orbit) which is something that doesn't currently exist yet. The space shuttle was the last heavy lift vehicle that attempted partial re-usability, but it still required a massive expendable external tank and booster rockets, which made launch costs still very high. Not to mention the space shuttle was also extremely dangerous, and there was no launch escape system to abort astronauts from a failed launch, and it was statistically also the most dangerous space vehicle to ever fly.
These new things being developed on the other hand, idk what to call them, are supposedly the next evolution in heavy lift vehicles. But seeing as how they too don't seem to have any launch safety systems, and so far have not succeeded a single orbital launch, are still not very convincing solutions.
ESA is testing them too or planning to test them. I support the idea very much, it ultimately saves on resources and makes launchibg safer because of the reduction of waste in orbit, so fewer collisions happen, also with waste hitting sattelites.