Brian Thorn wrote:
(George William Herbert) wrote:
And keep in mind... a capsule is going to be lighter for the same
capabilities, as it doesn't have all those dead weight wings etc.

Instead, it will have to have a honkin' big parachute/airfoil which
had better deploy just right. Even then, you might still need a retro
rocket to make landing bearable for the crew.

Retro rocket, or moderate crush space in the seat mounts, etc.

And how big a capsule can they fit on top of a Delta or Atlas before
they start getting into aerodynamic problems that make wings look
easy?

Both Atlas V and Delta IV are qualifying with 5m shrouds.
So at least that big. There has been open speculation of
a 7m shroud to fit a winged OSP under while avoiding the
wing lift loads problem, so someone is thinking of that
sized hammerhead on both vehicles. A large hammerhead is
more drag, and more shroud weight, but is not an unmanageable
problem by any means.

A 5m capsule is plenty big for the OSP mission...


-george william herbert