Can Commercial Low-Cost Human Suborbital RLVs Lead to Human Orbital Missions?
Clark Lindsey writes in The Space Review that many in the aerospace world find little of significance in SpaceShipOne (SS1 just completed its 7th glide test) or in the dozens of other suborbital reusable launch vehicle (RLV) projects currently in development. British rocket propulsion expert Alan Bond dismissed suborbital spaceflight as on the fringe and possibly very dangerous. John Pike, spysat analyst and media consultant says, “the idea that the XPrize will enable humanity to slip the surly bonds of Earth and get us closer to the human exploration of Mars is ridiculous.” Pat Bahn (TGV Rockets) plans to build a large suborbital RLV aimed at the remote sensing market. He relates suborbitals to the development of personal computers: they will alter insurance regimes, eliminate billions of infrastructures, train legions of new entrants, create new suppliers and allow new ideas. But Len Cormier (Tour2Space), despite his work with suborbital RLVs, says he is not a strong fan since 100 km
