(MattWriter) :

Any spacecraft designed to return to Earth under control (as opposed to
ballistic reentry) has to carry a substantial amount of dead wight. For a
winged glider like the shuttle, it's the wings. For a DC-X-type powered
design, it's landing gear and extra propellants, since you need your
engines to
land. I know it's not this simple - the airframe design is different due
to
different stresses, etc. - but in general, which of these approaches
requires you to carry more extra weight on launch?

Not true. You are making assumtions before looking at all options.

There is at least one design that after doing a ballistic reentry comes to a
stop a couple of hundred feet above sea level because the base design is
light than air once all the fuel is used. How do you define dead weight in
that context?

Someone has suggested mid-air capture as a recovery mode.

Then there is my 'as crazy as a loon' idea of a wheeled lanuch sled that also
is used for the landing phase.

The fact is the range of possible designs has barely been explored.

Earl Colby Pottinger

--
I make public email sent to me! Hydrogen Peroxide Rockets, OpenBeos,
SerialTransfer 3.0, RAMDISK, BoatBuilding, DIY TabletPC. What happened to
the time? http://webhome.idirect.com/~earlcp