S3 SOAR spaceplane
 

Hello All,

A new company called Swiss Space Systems (S3, see: www.s-3.ch/ ) plans to launch satellites into orbit using an Airbus A300, from which will be launched a pilotless suborbital spaceplane (powered by LOX & kerosene) which will, in turn, release an expendable upper stage with its satellite payload; the "Newsroom" section of S3's site has illustrations of the vehicles. Also, here (see: http://www.space.com/20449-swiss-pr...plane-2017.html ) is an article on S3's spaceplane (called SOAR) and its small expendable third stage. SOAR's design stems from that of Dassault's proposed VEHRA air-launched spaceplane (see: http://www.google.com/search?sclien...K=Google+Search ).