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FUTURE SPACECRAFT: An artist's rendering of the single-stage disc spacecraft, which the project's American representative said is now being developed in Europe for future space exploration. (Courtesy of Nitronics Aerospace Technologies, LLC)
Imagine a revolutionary new single-stage space vehicle, greatly rivaling the design of the Space Shuttle, boasting these features and capabilities:
1. Instead of using traditional rocket fuel, the vehicle is powered efficiently by silicon-based derivatives of sand (called silanes). Its combustion system is made environmentally safe by using oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere.
2. It has a flying saucer-like appearance and takes off horizontally, similar to an airplane, using air while in the atmosphere before switching to an onboard oxidizer after reaching the upper limits of the atmosphere. In this way, it greatly reduces the oxidizer-to-payload ratio problem traditionally found in space flight.
3. It uses the most advanced engine design, making it capable of speeds of more than 9,000 mph in the atmosphere.
Sounds like science fiction? Not quite. The project to develop such a space vehicle has reportedly been underway for more than five years in Germany, with other European countries as well as engineers and financial backers in Asia joining the collaboration recently.
Missing American Investors
Although the design of the futuristic spacecraft and its engine is said to be progressing well under strict patent and corporate secrecy overseas (with a prototype of the vehicle due to be unveiled later), it is America’s absence in the project that troubles Andras Bodo, the eclectic businessman and technology guru based in Oregon who is promoting the project in the United States.
“Let’s not kid ourselves; sooner or later, any technological invention of this kind cannot have a market without U.S. participation,” said Bodo, who immigrated to America from Romania 30 years ago as a political dissident to escape the regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. He is now a U.S. citizen.
“My goal is to seek out and attract investors in the U.S. who wish to participate as financial partners in the startup stages of the project … to generate enough seed money for a long-term international collaboration in space travel and technology that benefits all countries involved.”
Multifaceted, Bodo lists his business accomplishments as being the principal-owner of Nitronics Aerospace Technologies LLC–USA, Bodo International LLC–USA (a multimedia marketing communications enterprise), and Triad International Building Systems LLC–USA (a green construction design firm).
However, despite interest expressed in the space vehicle project by executives at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, NASA, and other heavy hitters in the aerospace industry, Bodo said the lack of actual American financiers to back the endeavor—a project that he said could revolutionize space and air travel and military defense—remains a conundrum to him.
He said he has used much of his own money to attract U.S. investment, but to no avail.
“The representatives in the top aerospace entities that I’ve approached really like the potential of this project; some absolutely love it, but they all say, ‘Come back and see me when you’ve found the money to finance it,’” Bodo said.
The project was given validation by the air and space industry as early as 2005 when Bodo and colleagues were invited to present technical papers (originally published by industry leader SAE International) and videos on their new single-stage space vehicle at SAE’s 2005 World Aerospace Congress meeting in Dallas, Texas.
“American investors may be somewhat reluctant to back the project because of the economy,” Bodo said, “but given President Obama’s repeated commitment to science, technology, and green projects, and the fact that America is quickly losing its world leadership status in these areas, I think it behooves the U.S. to get in on a cutting-edge endeavor like this sooner than later.”
Despite the absence of America, foreign interest abounds. Bodo said that in Germany, one of the engineers spearheading the project is a direct descendant of Werner von Braun (the German rocket scientist and father of the U.S. Gemini and Apollo space programs). Another is directly related to Eugene Saenger, a key pioneer of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.
According to Bodo, the cost to build a small-scale flying prototype of the craft (ranging from 10 feet to 15 feet in diameter) is expected to run an estimated US$15 million. “The model is being made with joint cooperation of the German inventors and other foreign countries, but now we are trying to interest American investors as well to take it to U.S. government or private entities here for funding.”
State-of-the-Art Technology
Using state-of-the-art technology, the disc-shaped spacecraft is considered more efficient than traditional, vertically launching, three-stage carrier systems such as the Space Shuttle. This is mainly because these traditional spacecraft must carry fuel and the extra weight of the oxidizer along the way. With fuel, the three stages make up about 97 percent of the entire take-off weight.
The new, lighter, single-stage spacecraft incorporates silane-based fuels (silicon nitrate) “into an air-breathing spacecraft design that achieves orbit via low ascent angles, where it then switches to an onboard oxidizer. A ceramic and alloy engine and propulsion system takes advantage of the properties of silane, utilizing both the oxygen and the 80% nitrogen of the atmosphere for combustion,” Bodo and co-author David Padanyi-Gulyas reported in their paper. The paper is titled “A New Approach for Single Stage Ascent to Orbit Silane Fuel in a New Vehicle Design,” published in 2005 by SAE International’s Aerospace Engineering magazine.
There are also environmental advantages, the designers said. Since silane is derived from silicon (which in turn comes from sand), an abundant supply could be maintained from expansive desert terrain instead of by using fossil fuels.
In addition, coupled with the risk of introducing carcinogenic fuels into the atmosphere, “the ozone layer of our planet is considerably injured each time the booster rockets of the space shuttle burn their fuel,” reported Padanyi-Gulyas and Bodo.
And while the Space Shuttle makes use of numerous ceramic tiles, which are glued or screwed on and need extra special attention to protect the vehicle against the inferno of re-entry, the new disc-shaped spacecraft employs more enhanced thermodynamic properties.
“To get around using tiles, this craft has a rotating outer ring made of silicon nitride and silicon carbide which distributes the kinetic energy and the heat of re-entry to allow slowing of speeds, similar to that of a normal jet aircraft,” says Bodo, who has a detailed video available of the design and capabilities of the craft for potential investors. “The ring is porous, lightweight, and compact, making the space vehicle extremely resistant to shearing forces.”
As the Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off on the morning of April 5 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., (leaving only three more NASA Space Shuttle missions remaining before the 29-year-old program is shut down indefinitely this September), Bodo again contemplated the future of his project.
“I would like to see the silane and single-stage spaceship included into the package of contenders for the next new series of space exploration either by NASA, private enterprise, or combination of the two,” he said.
For more information on the single-stage space vehicle project, call Andras Bodo at (503) 998-9100 or e-mail him at andrasbodo@gmail.com.
Michael Dabney, a former bioscience communicator at the University of California, San Diego, is a freelance writer based in Chula Vista, Calif., specializing in science and education.
