Hypersonic Space Planes Are All the Rage These Days

The Italian experimental space plane Pollux. (Credit: Italian Center for Aerospace Research - CIRA)

High-Tech Space Planes Taking Shape in Italy, Russia
Space.com

The U.S. Air Force’s secretive X-37B space plane may eventually get some company in low-Earth orbit as other countries such as Italy and Russia push forward with plans for their own reusable winged spaceships.

Italy’s prototype space plane, named Pollux, successfully carried out high-speed maneuvers that slowed it down from a falling speed of Mach 1.2 during a test flight in April. More recently, Russia has begun considering whether to revive a Cold War era, air-launched mini-shuttle in response to the U.S. X-37B space plane debut.

Such efforts may not immediately lead to full-fledged operational flights. But in the case of the Italian Center for Aerospace Research (CIRA) in Capua, Italy, aerospace engineers hope to provide crucial lessons for future space planes, such as how to pull off autonomous re-entry and survive the return trip through Earth’s atmosphere….

The Russian MAKS system represents a more complete space plane system that’s not unlike the X-37B. But there’s no word as to how or when a resurrected MAKS mini-shuttle might fly.

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