The Boeing Company

Mcdonnell Douglas Helicopter Company

James K Wechsler

Jeffrey J Cronick

Jennifer L Green

Brian R Lindley

Jon J Carpenter

Thomas Russell Smith

John W Rutherford

A returnable and reusable space vehicle including a main body separate from and releasably mounted to a booster rocket assembly. A crew compartment module is provided that is separate from and releasably mounted to the main body. A propellant system is operably coupled to the crew compartment module so as to propel the crew compartment module from the main body during an emergency procedure. An orientation control system is coupled to the propellant system such that the orientation control system maintains the crew compartment module in a predetermined attitude during the emergency procedure. A pair of aerodynamic lifting wings extend from the main body to provide aerodynamic lift the the main body to permit the main body to return from the orbit and land.

Crewed on-orbit, returnable, and reusable space vehicle

An orbit transfer vehicle for transporting cargo between a low Earth orbit and a higher Earth orbit having a body and an engine operably coupled to the body. A reaction control system is further provided and is operably coupled to the body. The reaction control system having a plurality of thrusters capable of maneuvering the orbit transfer vehicle. The orbit transfer vehicle further includes an energy absorbing panel operable to gather energy and an energy storage device operable to store the energy. Still further, a payload interface mechanism is provided having a payload container area and a payload retaining device. The payload retaining device is connectable to the cargo. Lastly, a controller for autonomously controlling the engine, the reaction control system, and the payload interface mechanism to control the orbit transfer vehicle so as to transport the cargo between a low Earth orbit to a higher Earth orbit.

Autonomous orbit transfer vehicle

A returnable and reusable space vehicle including a main body separate from and releasably mounted to a booster rocket assembly. A crew compartment module is provided that is separate from and releasably mounted to the main body. A propellant system is operably coupled to the crew compartment module so as to propel the crew compartment module from the main body during an emergency procedure. An orientation control system is coupled to the propellant system such that the orientation control system maintains the crew compartment module in a predetermined attitude during the emergency procedure. A pair of aerodynamic lifting wings extend from the main body to provide aerodynamic lift to the main body to permit the main body to return from the orbit and land.

A tiltwing aircraft, capable of in-flight conversion between a hover and forward cruise mode, employs a counter-rotating proprotor arrangement which permits a significantly increased cruise efficiency without sacrificing either the size of the conversion envelope or the wing efficiency. A benefit in hover is also provided because of the lower effective disk loading for the counter-rotating proprotor, as opposed to a single rotation proprotor of the same diameter. At least one proprotor is provided on each wing section, preferably mounted on the wingtip, with each proprotor having two counter-rotating blade rows. Each blade row has a plurality of blades which are relatively stiff-in-plane and are mounted such that cyclic pitch adjustments may be made for hover control during flight.

Growing community of inventors

Irvine, CA, United States of America

James K Wechsler