National Aerospace Plane (X-30) announced 20 years ago

In article ,
"H2-PV NOW" wrote:

Wings are cheaper than fuel. Before last year's oil price gouging
carbon-fiber fabric was down to $0.94 square foot for 6kx6k 2,000,000
psi, wholesale in volume lots. The cost of 10,000 square feet of wings
in material costs was less than buying a Piper Cub used. Now Exxon got
their price raise and it costs a NEW Piper Cub.

Comparing an air breathing winged vehicle to a VTVL all rocket vehicle
the VTVL has the following advantages. Low landing speed of about 3
mph, vs 220 mph for a winged lander. The vehicle has about 10% less
hardware (no wings or wheels). Because there are no wings or wheels
they can't fail (Shuttle). Hardware costs are in the neighborhood of
$1000 per kilogram, and propellents $0.50 per kilogram. With these
numbers the break even point for cost is at 250 flights per year for a
vehicle designed for a ten year life, and it will be a long time before
we have shuttles running that schedule. No specialized runways required
to land. In an emergency it can land on any firm level ground (DC-X).
Wings are of use only for the first two minutes of a mission, and the
last one minute. Wheels are used only the last 30 seconds of the
flight.
Many engineers and managers like wings and wheels because they are a
known quantity. They don't like the Buck Rogers stuff, at least until
someone else does it, then it will be all the rage.

--
Mike Swift

Two things only the people anxiously desire, bread and circuses.
Decimus Junius Juvenalls