#Germany is weighing investments ranging from spy satellites and #SpacePlanes to offensive #lasers under a 35 billion € ($41 billion) 💰 #military space spending plan https://www.reuters.com/science/germany-eyes-lasers-spy-satellites-military-space-spending-splurge-2026-02-03/
Spaceplanes Are Upon Us

EP 24 - Stefan Powell on Dawn Aerospace and its wild ideas

Core Memory
🇮🇳 It is proposed to develop Transportable/Mobile #LaunchSystems that can operate from ground/ aerial/ sea-based platforms. The system should be able to change from transportable position to ‘Launch ready position” in not more than 60 minutes. #India has also tested a series of reusable #spaceplanes https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4849/1
The Space Review: Measuring the depth of India’s space program

Might be silly, but hey, why not? It's been a while since I delved into spaceflight any...maybe I should return to that topic sometime. 😌

My old, simple, but hopefully nicely atmospheric piece "Two generations of spaceplanes".

#art #MastoArt #digitalart #illustration #sketch #spaceplanes #spacecraft #spaceflight

"Making #European 🇪🇺 #spaceplanes a reality" - While a multi-million-euro new investment in #POLARIS would be significant for the company, the opaque nature of this investment and the vehicles with which it was executed leave us with more questions than answers. https://europeanspaceflight.com/polaris-spaceplanes-secures-multi-million-euro-investment/
POLARIS Spaceplanes Secures "Multi-Million-Euro Investment"

POLARIS Spaceplanes has announced that it has received a multi-million-euro investment from the Swiss-based Aero Challenge Group.

European Spaceflight
POLARIS to Begin Testing Fourth Spaceplane Demonstrator From September

Germany’s POLARIS Spaceplanes has received approval to begin testing its fourth demonstrator from September 2023.

European Spaceflight

This baby should have been the successor to the Space Shuttle. Sure, SSTO wasn't practical, but this same sort of airframe, launched on an off-the-shelf Atlas V? Would have worked great, and been the coolest and sexiest spacecraft of all time. The public would have *loved* it.

Image is late 1990s NASA concept art of the McDonnell Douglas X-33.

#spacecraft #spaceflight #history #alternatehistory #thoughts #spaceplanes

My piece "Two generations of spaceplanes", making the subsonic vs hypersonic optimized spaceframes look charming I think.

#art #MastoArt #digitalart #spaceships #spaceflight #spaceplanes #spacecraft #sketch #drawing