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The Airbus Defence and Space Spaceplane, also called EADS Astrium TBN according to some sources,〔Radio interview of French ESA astronaut Jean-François Clervoy, during the show of Jacques Pradel on Europe 1, June 21, 2007〕 is a suborbital spaceplane concept for carrying space tourists, proposed by EADS Astrium (currently Airbus Defence and Space), the space subsidiary of the European consortium EADS (currently Airbus Group). A full-size mockup was officially unveiled in Paris, France, on June 13, 2007,〔 〕 and is now on display in the Concorde hall of the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace. The project is the first space tourism entry by a major aerospace contractor. It is a rocket plane with a large wingspan, straight rearwards wing and a pair of canards.〔Astrium dévoile son projet d'avion-fusée ''Le Figaro, June 14, 2007, Page 18〕 Propulsion is ensured by classical turbofan jet engines for the atmospheric phase〔(Space jet’s turbofans can cope with vacuum says EADS ) Rob Coppinger Flightglobal.com June 21, 2007〕 and a methane-oxygen rocket engine for the space tourism phase. It can carry a pilot and four passengers. The dimensions and looks are somewhat similar to those of a business jet. , EADS Astrium hoped to start development of this rocket plane by 2008, with the objective of a first flight in 2011. There was also a possibility that the Tunisian area of Tozeur might be used for the initial flights. Demonstrator test flight regarding conditions encountered in the end-of-flight phase of a return from space occurred on June 5, 2014. EADS Astrium plans to raise public and private money for its project. ==Origin of the project== The origin of the project is a proposal by a group of young French, German, British and Spanish engineers from EADS Astrium. It was studied in great secrecy for two years and finally approved by the chairman of EADS Astrium, François Auque. The design is similar in concept to the Rocketplane XP. They looked at the main concepts under development and their studies showed that Rocketplane's jet and rocket combination made the most sense.〔Europe's Tourist Rocket, Popular Science Magazine, October 2007, pg 41〕 In the following months, a core team came up with a detailed concept and assembled the required expertise from different areas of Astrium and other EADS subsidiaries, such as Socata, as well as several external industry partners. Australian designer Marc Newson,〔(The technical challenge of making space travel easy ) ''International Herald Tribune'', June 17, 2007, By Alice Rawsthorn〕 who earned his reputation in the field of aviation as Creative Director of Qantas, was also invited to join the project.〔(Planet AeroSpace Issue 4/2007: EADS Astrium plans space tourism )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Airbus Defence and Space Spaceplane」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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