Briggs Aerospace Technologies
 

The commercial aerospaceliner 

By definition, the J2000 HYT is the worlds first commercial aerospaceliner. The J2000 will introduce a new era of spaceflight transportation, enabling a quantum leap in mission performance. 

The J2000 operates in a way similar to commercial airliners, except HYT takes off and climbs into orbit. These operations will offer spaceflight at a hundredth of the present cost, with the safety of commercial airline services.

Commercial operations will take place as follows:

Take Off

J2000 HYT will have the capability to take-off and land at any international airport around the world. Although HYT has a much higher maximum take-off weight, the power to weight ratio is much higher than its derivative ARFG Neecenow. The ability to operate from any international airport will expand the market of space commerce to almost every nation. Take-off noise is projected to be “noticeably less” than current commercial airliners.

Climb

HYT commences flight along routes created for AFG and ARFG airliners, called supersonic transition areas. Generally these flights will proceed eastwards towards the equator to take advantage of the faster rotation of the Earth, however HYT will be able to achieve orbit from any location and heading on the planet

Once normal hypersonic cruise is achieved, J2000 is cleared for orbit. The aircraft is accelerated to the limit of the air-breathing hypersonic engines performance. Climb into orbit is assisted by using aerodynamic principles; wings produce a component of 1 G of lift that must otherwise be equated by thrust in rockets.

Dynamic manoeuvring may assist HYT to higher velocities prior to firing the main engines. By diving from 150,000 feet to 100,000 feet uses gravity to increase effective total thrust. An automated low G push over reduces aerodynamic drag to a minimum, and gravity coupled with thrust in a low drag environment on the edge of Space is used to increase velocity. The engines will retain power at a higher speed during orbital transition.

As the hypersonic engines loose performance, HYTs rocket motor would then be fired, accelerating the J2000. It climbs into orbit while also attaining orbital velocity. Since the atmosphere is so thin at and above 150,000 feet, acceleration is much faster and requires less fuel and thrust: about 5% of the thrust required for the same acceleration at sea level.

Less required thrust mean less required fuel, explaining why a craft with a fraction of the fuel of the Space Shuttle can carry a greater load: HYT will actually have 30% more fuel than the Space Shuttle operations had at this height, as well as 40% more speed.

Due to the increase in speed placing more air-volume into and through the intake, J2000s maximum altitude sustained via the air-breathing engines will be substantially higher than AFG and ARFG service ceiling.

Missions

In orbit HYT will perform many mission types; the most frequent mission is expected to be delivering fuel and other payloads into orbit for future flights. 

Supply drop off points will use the specifically designed and completely reusable payload pod joined by a frame. When used in the refuelling role the pods will spin to drain the fuel to each end of the pod, where the fuel socket will be located, overcoming problems of weightlessness. 

With the performance afforded by the explorer versions of the J2000, the space industry can plan more elaborate missions, such as deep-space exploration and colonisation of other planets and moons, planetary defence and deep space power plant research and experiments.

Re-entry

HYT is being assessed to potentially use a flatter, level approach that bleeds off speed higher in the atmosphere, at a lower rate of descent and deceleration instead of the traditional nose high approach used by the Space Shuttle. This puts the J2000 in a safer attitude, where there is less risk of loss of control.

A flat approach path also enables less average airframe heat build-up, since only the leading edges of the wings and tail, as well as the nose suffer heating. A type of air brake system is under study to see if the airframe can be isolated from the air-flow, preventing kinetic heating. The entire base of the Shuttle Orbiter required tiling to compensate for its attitudes heating. 

Various further designs of re-entry profiles will be studied and evaluated by the FXG Vancoollins. This research aircraft will be built with Aceson funds, which will also more deeply evaluate airframe technologies and velocity vectors, such as variable geometry nose cones and plasma technology.

The J2000 missions will return with enough fuel for several standard IFR approaches and a short diversion. The type will have the ability to operate in all but the worst weather. This means expensive diversions or re-entry delays due to weather – creating expensive delays to later missions - are kept to a minimum.

Landing

One of the main factors in reducing the viability of the Space Shuttle was it was only able to make a single approach. If a stable approach could not be guaranteed – if, for example, the weather was bad - the mission would have to be delayed. 

Powered approaches increase safety for the crew and passengers, giving a larger weather and mission envelop for re-entry. In an emergency situation HYT can make an un-powered glide approach similar to the Space Shuttle, with a lower touch down speed. The J2000 will have the ability to divert to alternative airports in extreme weather conditions such as snow, thunderstorms or fog.

HYT will be able to depart and return to present international airports and can fly conventionally or hypersonically to various airports for refit, maintenance and payload needs: considerably reducing costs. The ability to have all weather performance means that turn-around times are not effected by lengthy delays waiting for weather to clear at a single, specialised location. 

J2000 will feature reverse thrust enabling a very short landing run, maximising safety in bad weather on wet runways.

History

Early J2000 HYT concept evolved from the J2000 programme (which developed into the AFG and ARFG Neecenow) 15 years ago. 

The rational behind the initial development was a large supersonic aircraft, carrying a sizable payload over a long distance at altitude is a spacecraft in a low orbit. This height can be increased with much less thrust than needed at sea level. With suitable modification, a large super or hypersonic aircraft can be adapted to lift a payload into space. 

Modification and redesign challenges were found to be minimal with ARFG Neecenow, and its inception meant the J2000 development, for the high budget space-industry, could subsidise  the AFG and ARFG hypersonic airliner programmes.

Supersonic versions of the airliner split the programme into 2 separate designs because of the dangers of depressurisation to an airliner at hypersonic speed and altitude rendering commercial operations impossible. The situation was solved by Briggs predecessor Briggs Aerospace Technologies, enabling the consolidation of the two programmes once more. 

The FXG Vancoollins test aircraft, funded by Aceson Corporate Bonds, will commence flight testing for the J2000 HYT.


 
  ©2013 Briggs.