FYI,

"The Ultimate Glide: PlanetSpace's Suborbital Travel Plan"
SPACE.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070214/sc_space/theultimateglideplanet
spacessuborbitaltravelplan

: Even as the private spaceflight firm PlanetSpace, Inc. aims for
: orbital space shots, the Chicago-based company is also drawing up
: plans for a suborbital Earth transit system.

: The firm's planned Silver Dart space plane, currently targeted at
: providing NASA crew and cargo services to the International Space
: Station (ISS), could be equipped with a suborbital rocket engine
: for point-to-point flights around Earth, PlanetSpace CEO Geoff
: Sheerin told SPACE.com.

: PlanetSpace officials are planning to make their first Silver Dart
: demonstration launch by December 2009.

: "The initial tests of that Dart are suborbital," Sheerin
: said. "We're talking about an initial test flight that might go
: 5,000 miles (8,046 kilometers) down range, so with the Dart you can
: glide quite a ways."

: Point-to-point aboard Silver Dart

: PlanetSpace's Silver Dart spacecraft calls for a metal lifting body
: frame based on the U.S. Air Force's Flight Dynamics Laboratory-7
: (FDL-7) and NASA's X-24B test aircraft. The spacecraft is designed
: to fly at hypersonic speeds of up to Mach 22, launch atop either an
: orbital NOVA booster or suborbital rocket, and make a runaway
: landing.

: PlanetSpace's planned suborbital Silver Dart booster is reminiscent
: of NASA's Little Joe rocket used during tests of the space agency's
: Mercury spacecraft launch escape system.

: It's the Silver Dart's potential glide range, more than
: 25,000 miles (40,233 kilometers) at hypersonic speeds, which lend
: it to point-to-point flights around Earth, Sheerin said.

: "A flight from New York to Paris in 20 minutes is not out of the
: question using that system," Sheerin said, adding that it is the
: longer, 16-hour flights where Silver Dart could excel. "The best
: uses for this vehicle are places where it might take a jet a long
: haul."

: Sheerin said PlanetSpace is studying plans for an initial
: five-vehicle fleet of Silver Dart spacecraft, each capable of
: making eight-passenger or unmanned cargo trips into suborbital or
: orbital space. Versatility, he added, is the goal.

: "If they're not flying to orbit, then I'd like to fly them
: point-to-point and if they're not flying point-to-point than I'd
: like to be flying them on short jaunts into space on space tourist
: flights," Sheerin said. "They're flight rate will be very high."

: PlanetSpace plans to launch spacecraft from Cape Breton in Nova
: Scotia, and also has an agreement with NASA's Marshall Space Flight
: Center for technical support in spacecraft and booster development.

: Laying the foundation

: Earlier this month, NASA announced plans to support PlanetSpace's
: orbital space plane efforts by supplying specifications and advice,
: but no funding, for potential crew and cargo transport services to
: and from the ISS once the agency's shuttle fleet is retired in
: 2010.

: The U.S. space agency also agreed to similar deal with Reston,
: Virginia's Transformational Space (t/Space), while two other firms
: - Oklahoma's Rocketplane Kistler and California-based Space
: Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) - are sharing the space agency's
: initial $500 million Commercial Orbital Transportation System
: (COTS) investment.

: A subsequent COTS bid for ISS services will be open to all capable
: parties, Lindenmoyer added.

: "Our belief is that once we're able to satisfy NASA's requirements
: for going to the International Space Station, then all the other
: requirements for passengers and crew would also be satisfied,"
: Sheerin said.

Mark Reiff