Europeans Plan to Launch Prototype Wingless, Reusable Spaceship By 2013

A Lifting Body. A wingless, truncated space shuttle. How about calling it a capsule.

@beantown179 - Because its a lifting body.

It's a flying space shoe.

It's awesome. When they say it operates autonomously, does that mean it will decide by itself wether the colonization of new planets or the exploration of deep space is more important?

I think this is great. I wish more people would realize just because man space mission have a dim future in the next 10 to 20 years doesn't mean science and space exploration is in decline. just the opposite!
What I want people to realize is YES manned space flight is awesome. its also costly and dangerous, and non-manned mission accomplish a HELL of lot more for a WAY less cash.

we all love the idea of putting a man on mars. probably becuase inside we secretly wish we were that man, or at the very least could vaicraisly (sp?) live through his video feed. Its also a testament to what man can accomplish and you can't put a price on that. except that you have to put a price on it. cause rocket ships dont grow on trees.

these unammed mission push science further and faster than bloated and manned mission. that means more men will probably go into space sooner becuase space technology will advance faster.

@inaka_rob,

I am only speaking for myself, but I support getting people on mars (or the moon really) because it's the first step in colonizing space.

Sending robots to mars is cool... but we can't colonize space with robots--we have to send humans.

It's not about wishing I was an astronaut, or living vicariously...

looks like a pod.

this is more encouraging news, private enterprise in cooperation with gov't entities is the way of the future, you are both correct, a combination of manned flight and robotics will continue to be the norm, they compliment each other

big deal, it's capsule. This was news in the 60's. 1 step back or man.

@Aldrons Last Hope really? you could not be MORE WRONG!
its a RE-USABLE HEAVY lift vechical. let me put this so you will understand. BIG THINGS IN SPACE FOR LESS CASH.
appollo rockets could put men into space they cost a zillion dollars and burn up. all you get after its all said and done is a reentry capsule. so they made the space shuttle. it was WAY cheaper to put men in space. with vehicles like this we can shuttle cargo to space, even retrieve, for a FRACTION of the cost.

@B.V. yeah.... you didnt didn't really support your statement with anything. and your wrong. putting man on mars is NOT the first step in colonizing space. putting ROBOTS is!
do some research on the new mars lander that will hopefully be launching next year if nasa can get the 42 mil$ it needs. part of its mission is scout out possible sights for a manned mission landing zone.

My point is yes, we need men in space, but for the most part robots and un manned missions can do more and cheaper.

China plans to build its MANNED moon base entirely with robots.
so the first step is not putting man on the moon or mars. its the LAST step.

and I will copy and paste my last statement since it seems you didnt read it:
these unammed mission push science further and faster than bloated and manned mission. that means more men will probably go into space sooner becuase space technology will advance faster.

@ink_rob

"these unmanned mission push science further and faster than bloated and manned mission. that means more men will probably go into space sooner because space technology will advance faster"

yeah I read your last comment but with the heavy emphasis on the word "probably". More empty promises...wow NASA has the public trained to parrot their rhetoric. "Probably", "in 50 years", "one day"

Big Deal. It took them 50 years to make a reusable rocket?? LOL these have been around a long time. The U.S Air Force have been using these to put their unmanned space planes into orbit for the last 2-3 years.

Let’s not try to follow what China is doing…LOL.

And who cares what it costs to put a man in space…money means nothing. Look at history, the military industrial complex that grew out of WW2. Was made by will and resources, because the U.S.A did not have the funds to build that army. Same goes with NAZI Germany, they were poor after all the sanctions of WWI…but they built imo the most advanced military in the world using will & resources (and of course smarts). So don’t tell me it’s cheaper this, and cost that…it means NOTHING. Especially in a time when we are spending trillions (with a T) on all of these wars. If we are interested in advancing human development, space is the final frontier and humans need to be there, or all we’re doing is advancing our eventual “robot overlords”.

The only thing worthwhile about this is that it was in partnership with private companies.

@Aldrons Last Hope you have some good comments from time to time, but in this case you have only shown your lack of knowledge. I don't know where to start.
I never said we should follow in China footsteps.
China is trying to follow ours!! and then surpass us. To do that they want a manned moon base before we do. To do that faster they are using ROBOTS to build it not humans because it would take longer and cost more.
2nd the airforce DOES NOT have reusable rockets? where are you getting this info. i have no idea what you are talking about. give me a name or at least a wiki link if you can find one, but considering the fist US Airforce reusable rocket doesn't go into service until 2013 I think you will have trouble.

"money means nothing." I cant belive I am even justinfying such a ridiclous statement with a reposonse. when the entire world is seeing its worst depression in almost 100 years. money means EVERYTHING. "because the U.S.A did not have the funds to build that army. Same goes with NAZI Germany, they were poor after all the sanctions of WWI…" read a history book once in a while please. this is just naive. The usa needed all the cash it could get. It sold war bonds. You couldnt even buy bannas beucase they were given to the army. the USA did everything it could to get every single penny it could do build up its forces. and after WW1 germany was became VERY rich. Why do you think Hilter came into power so fast. yes they were poor after WW1 but they also saw the fastest turn around in military and ecominc power. I am not going to talk about this point anymore beucase you are just 100% wrong on this one angle.

Do a little research and look at all the experiments that NASA and JAXA and ESA have done and are doing that are unmanned. We have done more in 5 years than the previous 20 years of NASA. just because we don't have the FLASH and PIZAZZ of landing a man on the moon, doesn't mean NASA isn't progressing by leaps and bounds. the news doesn't care anymore. the papers don't write about it any more, but if you actually pay attention to nasa dot com and science dot come and popsci dot com you will see all the amazing things nasa is doing all time.

before you comment back do yourself and everyone else a favor and go nasa dot gov backslash missions
Have a look at the CURRENT missions. FUTURE mission and PAST missions. Its insane. absolutely insane. I can 100% guarantee you didn't know about 99% of them! then what about all the joint missions underway?

Just look at Hubble. Hubble has added more information to mans general understanding of the universe than almost ANY other experiment in history of space program. maybe the most. It doesn't just take pretty pictures. We learn VAST amounts of knowledge from EVERY picture taken. Over 6000 peer reviewed scientific articles have been published JUST from the pictures Hubble has taken. and it has taken roughly 1 million photos. this is ONE unmanned mission among hundreds!!!
Cost of Hubble even after all the repairs. 2.5 billion$.
Cost of Space shuttle program. 175 billion$!!!!!
Yes we needed a space shuttle to put Hubble into orbit, but guess what this article is about. AN UNMANNED SPACE SHIP that will do just that! put thing like Hubble into space MUCH cheaper. I am sorry but this is NOT old technology.

okay so you know a little about Hubble and how much its unmanned mission has helped out science.
What about the The James Webb Space Telescope to be launched in 2 years.
it will see objects 100x times fainter and father away than Hubble. 100 times better than hubble!!!!!

All I am talking about is unmanned missions are CHEAPER and more efficient and they FURTHER science more and faster than any manned mission.

@inaka_rob,

"you didnt didn't really support your statement with anything. and your wrong. putting man on mars is NOT the first step in colonizing space. putting ROBOTS is!"

Actually, you are wrong.

The first step to colonizing space is creating the universe!

*rolls eyes*

Obviously I meant that if we (humans) are going to colonize space (i.e. live there instead of only on earth) we have to be able to sustain human life in space.

No amount of robot missions will be a substitute for human missions to practice the skill of sustaining human life in space and on other planets/asteroids/moons/etc.

Obviously robots will play a crucial role in our colonization efforts--but it will be wholly impossible without human missions.

@inaka_rob
"2nd the airforce DOES NOT have reusable rockets? where are you getting this info. i have no idea what you are talking about. give me a name or at least a wiki link if you can find one, but considering the fist US Airforce reusable rocket doesn't go into service until 2013 I think you will have trouble."

So it goes public in 2013 so they didn’t have it 3 years ago…I don’t think you know how military intelligence works..you are being naïve.

OMG, NASA isn't the only agency trying to go to space. Like I said the Airforce has had a reusable unmanned space plane system for years. Read the link and educate yourself.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20039713-76.html

"..and after WW1 germany was became VERY rich" LAMO really?
That's just wrong...how can you say such a thing?

Please read some history..it was only like 70 years ago for God's sake. Germany was DEAD BROKE after the sanctions imposed my the Allies….I can’t believe I have to tell you this..I might as well be on youtube.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_happened_to_Germany_after_World_War_1

Germany was dirt poor and suffered from super inflation..Hitler scapegoated the jews that's how he came to power. How you do not know this is a mystery.

Like I said money means nothing and you will see what I’m talking about when the U.S $ crashes. It’s a fiat system and it’s based on nothing. There was more wealth created in the last 100 years and all of human history combined…money from nothing. When you understand that, then you will understand my statement that money means nothing, it’s just a means to an end. Will & Resources are a better substitute for green paper and survival is a better motive than greed.

I’m not dogging the Hubble program, I call straw man on that. I’m talking about exploratory missions that are using robots instead of humans.

Oh one more thing…you said something to the effect that Robots is the first step in colonizing space…lol. Have you forgotten the Apollo program? How did they do all that without Robots?? OMG to hear you tell it Christopher Columbus would have not discovered the west w/o Robots…in the future we will not be able to get dressed w/o robots…give me a break…Robots are an extension of ourselves and we don’t NEED them for anything. Yes having them around is cheaper and safer but we do not need them.

I sometimes agree with you, but completely disagree 100% with everything you have written.