The Air Force recently revealed at least a few details of what had been a classified study of its future reusable launch system, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology, an aerospace industry magazine.
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NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite are ready to be launched into space by an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
"The booster would take off vertically and return to a runway landing at the launch site," the magazine reported.
It has long been hoped that something like a space plane, a reusable -- or at least partially reusable -- launch vehicle, might allow more reliable access to space.
The Air Force currently uses expendable launch vehicles -- the Delta IV and Atlas V -- to loft its satellites into space. Those launch vehicles have proved expensive, and Pentagon officials remain frustrated at how long it takes -- many months -- to get a satellite into space using them.
The Air Force and NASA have been looking at two different concepts to replace the current launch vehicles: one that would be launched vertically like a rocket and another that takes off horizontally like an airplane. Whatever the configuration, the new vehicle would need to be ready by around 2025.
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The idea of a space plane is not by any means new. The NASA space shuttle was once used to ferry secret military payloads into space, but it didn't fly as often, or as cheaply, as was originally envisioned.More recently, the Air Force had developed the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, which is also being used to carry satellites into space. The X-37B was launched in April and is orbiting the Earth, although the Air Force has declined to speak about its exact mission, citing its classified nature.
The X-37B can stay in orbit for up to 270 days.