Reliability & Safety. To ensure the reliability and safety of our Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) is second to none, we capitalized on the tremendous volume of lessons learned by the aviation industry. Those lessons learned have been incorporated in the Airworthiness Standards used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in licensing and certification of commercial aircraft. The effectiveness of those Airworthiness Standards is clearly verified by the achievement of an enviable aviation safety record: the probability of a mishap on a commercial jetliner is less than one in ten million. Therefore we decided to capture the lessons learned from the Airworthiness Standards and apply them to space flight. Under NASA contract, and in cooperation with the FAA Office of Commercial Space (FAA/AST), SA developed an "Aerospaceworthiness Standard" for Reusable Launch Vehicles. Our philosophy in developing the Aerospaceworthiness Standard from the Airworthiness Standard was simple: NEVER make changes that "water down" the FAA's Airworthiness Standards. ALWAYS make changes that are at least "equivalent" to the Airworthiness Standards. With that in mind, the task became one of primarily adding provisions to address issues that were unique to RLV operations, such as plasma effects, handling of cryogenics, etc. Both our suborbital and orbital vehicles are designed in compliance with the Aerospaceworthiness Standards and are capable of completing the mission cost effectively because of the fuel efficiency of the air breathing propulsion system. In contrast, to compensate for the fact that rocket engines are not fuel efficient, it is a typical design practice to lighten the rocket-powered launch vehicle empty weight (the weight of the structure, propulsion system, avionics, etc. but not the propellant or payload) by reducing the structural factors of safety and system redundancy, thus dramatically reducing system reliability and safety. Thus rocket-powered launch vehicles have a very high historical failure rate of 13%. Thus, to ensure the greatest possible reliability and safety for our guests, SA has elected to design, build, maintain and operate its launch vehicles in compliance with the Aerospaceworthiness Standards. Incorporation of the stringent factors of safety and reliability in the RLV is enabled by the fuel efficiency of the ejector ramjets.
Clean & Green. To further enhance the overall guest experience, SA has designed its RLV to run on clean-burning hydrogen, thus the exhaust product of the ejector ramjet powered vehicle is water. In contrast, rocket engines often employ propellants that generate harmful emissions, such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen chloride (which in the presence of humidity forms hydrochloric acid) and aluminum sulfate. Moreover, SA will also be leading the world in the development of cost-effective "green" processes and production facilities for generating hydrogen--processes that rely on sustainable sources of energy rather than fossil fuels thus emitting no green house gases while generating fuel at a price comparable to or below that of petroleum products with the equivalent energy. These processes literally have the potential to eliminate the world's dependence on petroleum. Thus SA's guests will feel good about doing their part to preserve the environment while seamlessly and cost effectively extending the world's transportation infrastructure up into space, thus creating a green business model for other industries to follow.
Hydrogen has long been recognized as a clean-burning fuel: it combines with oxygen to form water so the exhaust product is water vapor. The biggest factor limiting greater use of hydrogen is that hydrogen is not found on earth in significant concentrations in its elemental state (i.e., pure H2 hydrogen molecules), which is its most desirable form for use as a fuel. Currently, about 94% of all hydrogen is generated by extracting hydrogen from feedstock comprised of more complex molecules where the hydrogen is bonded to other elements, such as carbon. The most common feedstock for the process is methane (CH4-a hydrocarbon fuel in which each molecule comprises one atom of carbon with four atoms of hydrogen). Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) is a common process used in extracting the hydrogen. Unfortunately, the mass of carbon dioxide (a green-house gas) emissions generated by the SMR process is much greater than the mass of hydrogen produced. Thus to ensure the total cycle is green, a green alternative to the current processes for generating hydrogen that consume hydrocarbons and emit greenhouse gases is essential. SA's hydrogen generating processes are the right solution.
SA's efficient clean-burning, hydrogen-fueled ejector ramjets and associated green hydrogen generating processes enable SA to offer safe, reliable and affordable hypersonic transportation, and provide our guests the comfort of knowing that SA is dedicated to protecting both their guests' safety and the environment.
