So, now that the US Shuttles are getting old

[Mekorig]

What happened to the ideas of replacing the shuttles whit other options? I remember a vertical launch/arrival vehicule proyect. There is also the ex-soviet Buran, that if i recall correctly , was supposed to be more efficient than the us counterpart.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

The Buran/Energia project is long dead and buried. The Buran orbiter which made an unmanned flight in 1988 was destroyed in 2002 when its hanger roof collapsed. Even if Russia could resurrect Buran I doubt that they would. Buran has a very similar heatshield to the US Shuttle and Columbia demonstrated the problem with that.

Russia is currently planning a successor to Soyuz. Initially it was going to build a small re-usable winged vehicle called Kliper. Looking like a mini-shuttle it would have been launched on top of a next generation derivative of the current Soyuz launch vehicle. It was hoped to build this vehicle with the cooperation of the European Space Agency. ESA, however, has refused to help fund a winged vehicle. Russia is currently deciding whether to go it alone with Kliper or develop a capsule based spacecraft in conjunction with Europe.

The Americans will retire the shuttle in 2010. The replacement, currently known as the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) will fly sometime between 2012 and 2014. Eventually America will use the CEV to return to the moon.

Two new launch vehicles will be developed. The Ares I will launch the CEV and the Ares V will be an unmanned heavy lift vehicle that will eventually be used to deliver the new moon lander to Earth orbit.

Details on the American plans can be found in this thread: The Vision For Space Exploration.

[Mekorig]

I was aware of the russian cliper, but now on the new USa proyects. very interesting. But i still have a question. What happened whit that proyect of a vertical launc/arribal. It look like a giant cone. I dont remember the name right now.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

I think you may be talking about the DC-X and DC-XA "Delta Clipper".

It was designed to demonstrate vertical lift off, hovering and vertical landing technologies.

Unfortunately on it's final flight it crashed and burned when one of the landing legs failed to deploy.

It was supposed to lead to a single stage fully re-usable launcher called the "Clipper Graham" but this was cancelled due to budget cuts.

There is a bit about the history of this project at NASA: HERE

[Mekorig]

Its a shame, it looked promising, much like spheroid dropships in the sci-fiction setting "Battletech"

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Its a shame, it looked promising, much like spheroid dropships in the sci-fiction setting "Battletech"

I'll have to take your word for that.

[Mekorig]

*Here comes the dam Battletech fan*

Well, in the setting you have two kind of dropships: Spheroid or aerodime. Both types are used to move cargo and troops from planets to jumships, that are the FTL ships of the setting , and must remain in either nadir or zenith of the sun rechargin its FTL drive, the Kearny-Fuchida drive. Here are some pics of the dropships:

PS: I will not get off topic again. I must rememer it, but the CBT geek in me is stronger.