OSP - capsule or lifting body?
From the illustrations I've seen on Lockmart's OSP design, it looks more
like a narrow lifting body than a capsule per-se, although it does need
parachutes (parafoils?) to land - so would this then be strictly classified
as a lifting-body or a capsule?
For that matter, does it parafoil-land on a runway, or are ships going to
have to pick them up out of the water?
One plane that was never used for Gemini was to glide in to a runway using
parafoils, but this was never implemented, nor did Gemini posess the
potential handling characteristics of a lifting body, albeit a narrow one.
|