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Abstract:

In Europe, the EC co-funded project FAST20XX aims at exploring the borderline between aviation and space by investigating suborbital vehicles. The main focus is the identification and mastering of critical technologies for such vehicles rather than the vehicle development itself. Besides the objectives and overall layout of the project built around two vehicle concepts, the paper addresses also the progress made during the first year of the project. On the one hand, a space vehicle launched from an airplane is providing a lowenergy ballistic flight experience using hybrid propulsion. On the other hand, a vertically starting two-stage rocket space vehicle system concept is investigated to identify the conditions and constraints experienced during high-energy suborbital ultra-fast transport. The paper mainly discusses the two actual reference vehicles. Besides the technical aspects, the prerequisites for commercial operation, will also investigate safety, human spaceflight, business cases, environmental and legal issues. © 2011 by Andreas Mack, Johan Steelant.