Parallel with the progress of the space station and H-2 Launch Vehicle projects, the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) has started studies of a two-way space transportation system from 1985. Since 1987, the NASDA has been studying a winged two-way space vehicle to be launched by the H-2 Launch Vehicle. This space plane is called the H-2 Orbiting Plane (HOPE). The configuration of HOPE is composed of the structural, thermal protection, guidance control, propulsion, actuator, thermal control, power and communication systems. Test flights are scheduled for around 1996. The principal points of its basic concept are: (1) it is unmanned; (2) it has the ability to stay in space for more than 96 hours; (3) it has the capability to automatically land on a 3,000 m-class runway; and (4) it has the ability of rendezvousing and docking with the Japanese Experimental Module (JEM) and platforms.
Research of H-2 Orbiting Plane (HOPE). 1. HOPE: System Concept
1987
7 pages
Report
No indication
English
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