.
Lockheed learned from the X-33 that the VentureStar will be more efficient if it carries its payload bay in an external canister, Rising said, rather than inside the vehicle like the X-33. The new configuration is already undergoing wind-tunnel testing, he added, and will be unveiled within a couple of weeks.
By removing the space for a payload bay inside the craft, Lockheed can package the light-weight fuel tanks and other internal systems more efficiently, said Lockheed Martin executive Anthony Jacob, giving the VentureStar greater lift capability.
The canister, which will look like a fat pencil riding on top of the wedge-shaped vehicle, will be 53 feet long and 15 feet in diameter, and will have the same payload space as the previous design, somewhat less than the space shuttle.
"It makes it safer, really" for any possible crew, Rising said. The canister would ride on the lee side during re-entry, so that the entire ship would act as a heat-shield in the event of a problem.
"You have to accept what I call ‘morphing’ of the operational design to take advantage of what you learned from the [X-33]," Payton said. For NASA’s proposed Crew Return Vehicle, which the VentureStar would theoretically lift to orbit with the ISS crew, "it’s an easier design as far as simple, mechanical integration goes," Payton said.
The canister would also allow more flexibility for payloads, since it could be changed for larger or odd-shaped payloads, Rising said.
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