Dyna-soar with Mustard

The history of lifting bodies, and how their time may have come.



After the success of ESA's IXV mission with a true wingless lifting body, many may not be aware that this technology goes back to the sixties with the Boeing X-20 Dyna-soar, and the British Mustard, combination 3 vehicle to orbit. These concepts where not translated into real vehicles, but in the years that followed several new vehicles where realized, these being the M2-F1, Northrop HL-10, Martin Marietta X-24A, and X-24B.

It's interesting to note that the MUSTARD concept looked similar in shape to the

Northrop HL-10.

Fifty years later the early concepts should in hindsight perhaps have been considered.



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via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1ydr2bC