A politics - backed troupe in China is apparently cultivate on a infinite sheet , reportsNew Scientist , which may carry as many as 20 people to space .
The fomite is being designed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology ( CALT ) in Beijing , which is wide known for building the successful Long March roquette that China has used for its space attempt .
And this in vogue task , to build a recyclable distance plane , was revealed at the International Astronautical Congress ( IAC ) in Guadalajara , Mexico , last week by rocket scientist Lui Haiquang from CALT .
Optimistically , CALT aver a mental testing interpretation of the plane could fly in two years , with place touristry and satellite launch both eyed as goals . yield customer could fly on plank for as little as $ 200,000 , while small satellite could be launched into orbit .
The vehicle – which uses liquid methane and oxygen for fuel – would be unlike others such as Virgin Galactic’sSpaceShipTwo(which carry eight people ) , in that it would launch and put down by itself without the need for an aircraft to convey it to a high EL .
“ The vehicle will take off vertically like a garden rocket and farming on the track automatically without any ground or on - board intervention , ” enunciate Han Pengxin , the team loss leader , reported New Scientist .
There would be two versions of the sheet . A smaller , 10 - tonne ( 11 - short ton ) vehicle will have a wingspan of 6 meters ( 20 feet ) . It will take five hoi polloi to an altitude of 100 km ( 62 miles ) , giving them two minutes of weightlessness .
A second version , press 100 metric ton ( 110 tons ) and with a wingspread of 12 meters ( 40 fundament ) , would be able-bodied to take 20 people to a elevation of 130 kilometers ( 80 miles ) , with four minutes of weightlessness .
At the minute , the plane only is likely in the design stage , and has yet to be establish , let alone tested . So whether they can deliver on these promises stay to be seen .
If it does come to realization , it will eclipse Virgin Galactic ’s vehicle andXCOR ’s Lynxas the declamatory outer space airplane in operation .
( H / T : New Scientist )
