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France's VORTEX spaceplane to land like a jet, operate like a shuttle
What will the orbital spacecraft of tomorrow look like? If Dassault Aviation has its way, it could be similar to its Véhicule Orbital Réutilisable de Transport et d’Exploration (VORTEX) reusable spaceplane unveiled at the recent Paris Air Show.
If Dassault Aviation has its way, it could be similar to its Véhicule Orbital Réutilisable de Transport et d’Exploration (VORTEX) reusable spaceplane unveiled at the recent Paris Air Show. According to Dassault, VORTEX is a four-phase project, with Phase 1 aiming at the VORTEX-D demonstrator that's a one-third scale craft about 13 ft (4 m) long with an 8-ft (2.5-m) wingspan that will be used to refine configurations for hypersonic reentry. It's supposed to be completely reusable, with a large payload bay and is designed to be used for a wide variety of missions, including ferry work to space stations, acting as an autonomous orbital platform, servicing and recovering satellites, tending to refueling depots, and countering military threats.
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