Canada-based Space Engine Systems, which is developing a two-stage horizontal launch and landing vehicle, has been raising its profile recently at major international conferences and exhibitions, including IAC 2023 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company also enjoyed a high-profile presence in the Space Zone at the 2024 Farnborough International Airshow where ROOM Editor Mark Williamson spoke to Pradeep Dass, President & CTO.
One of the holy grails of astronautics is the single stage to orbit (SSTO) spaceplane. Although the development of reusable, or partially reusable, staged launch vehicles is impressive, the concept of a vehicle that can be launched from a runway and return to that same runway, having delivered a payload to orbit, is the ultimate space launch technology. Perhaps that is why serious engineering concepts have been published on the subject since the early days of the Space Age.
However, it is always easier to publish an engineering concept than to develop actual flight hardware and the list of failed projects is a long one. The 1980s was a particularly rich decade for projects utilising hypersonic engine technology to attain the goal of SSTO: for example, the US National Aerospace Plane (NASP) programme spawned Rockwell’s X-30 and Lockheed Martin’s VentureStar, but they were cancelled due to lack of funds.
Meanwhile, the British Aerospace/Rolls Royce project known as HOTOL (an acronym for Horizontal take-off and Landing) seemed promising, but met the same fate.
