Funds for Hotol idea

Press, 8 February 1986, Page 6

Funds for Hotol idea

NZPA-Reuter London Britain plans to finance a study of plans for a space shuttle that could fly passengers in low orbit from London to Sydney in one hour. The feasibility study would last up to two years and cost £3 million ($7.95 million), divided between the Government and two companies, said a Government statement. The companies, RollsRoyce and British Aero-

space, have been doing preliminary tests on the revolutionary horizontal take off and landing (Hotol) craft in the last year. Experts will investigate the feasibility of a plane able to carry passengers or other loads, such as satellites, direct into space from a runway without the need for rocket launchers. “Many of the uses we might make of space are ruled out at present by our not having routine

and cheap access to space,” said the Minister of Technology, Mr Geoffrey Pattie. He said the United States space shuttle and Europe’s Ariane launcher were too expensive at present. The goal of Hotol is to achieve launch costs into orbit of about one-fifth of present systems. It would take off on a reusable trolley from a runway of the length used by the supersonic Concorde.