Flight Testing Of Burt Rutan's X Prize Entry 180
evenprime writes "The X Prize website is reporting that
Burt Rutan's company Scaled Composites did some
flight testing on their SpaceShipOne/White Knight launch platform on May 19, 2003. Next up:
drop tests. There's also a nice
write-up at the BBC website."
Armadillo's page recently updated too! (Score:4, Interesting)
Go JC go!
Try it yourself (Score:5, Interesting)
X-Prize & Surreality (Score:2, Interesting)
Memorial day (observed) appears not to be the best time to be serious around here.
That being said, it's nice to see some progress on the X Prize, which is essentially a prize for the first successful civilian reusable space vehicle.
Personally I think the Rutans are going about this the wrong way, but they could still get the prize.
The pluses to the design are the high-altitude launch (elegant), and the low-speed entry (elegant).
The minuses as I see it are the relatively complex design, lack of cargo space, cost, unpowered landing. Oh, and the fact that it is very, very ugly.
A similar re-entry vehicle, but larger with powered maneuverability on re-entry, with a high-altitude balloon as a "first stage" would rock. And be cheaper. I'm not really sure how huge a balloon (hydrogen or helium) would have to be to drag something that big to the requisite altitude, especially if you intended to go beyond 100km. The second stage would be heavier, unless you had a new fuel or more efficient use of the fuel.
Big news, but no interest (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe I'm just early here, but it astonishes me that no one has posted a comment, except for trolls and ACs.
It's stuff like this that gives me hope that I'll live long enough to get a trip into space before I die. The government, as it usually does with everything it attempts, seems to have completely screwed up the exploration of space. It's been over 30 years since we sent a human being to another world, for heaven's sake.
I'm writing in Rutan for President in 2004. At least he's actually built something other than a portfolio.
Nitrous Oxide and Rubber? (Score:1, Interesting)
Quote from the BBC Article: "SpaceShipOne will then fire its hybrid rocket engine, fuelled by a mixture of nitrous oxide and rubber, to reach the blackness of space."
Surely this is a typo? Nobody uses rubber as a rocket fuel... unless this is a new kind of rubber that is completely diferent to the stretchy, boingy stuff?
Re:Big news, but no interest (Score:5, Interesting)
we need research into fuel tech as well (Score:2, Interesting)
Who to root for? (Score:2, Interesting)
The only problem I'm having is figuring out who to root for
The Black Armadillo is definitely starting to take shape, it looks a lot better lately than the first time I remember checking it out. Using an environmentally friendly fuel is brilliant, and possibly my favourite thing about the way Carmack and his crew are going about this project.
The White Knight and SS1 look slick. There's no other word for it. I'd expect to find a ship like that in anime, but not real life!
I hope Armadillo takes the prize money, but I wish (eventual) success to all teams involved.
I firmly believe that getting private citizens/companies into space travel is the best way to get the human race to the next level of space exploration, and I can't wait to see the end results!
Congratulations on all the progress so far guys!
Who is everyone else cheering for?
Re:Why space tourism is not a good idea (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually he has the most impressive track record of any living aircraft designer. Only a few dead people like Toupolev and one of the McDonnel-Douglas guys come close in terms of closeness of the design and concept to a working plane (and the lack of rows of pictures dead test pilots in the briefing room).
It is also not about tourists. All space agencies have no research budget to work on new concepts. They can barely operate what they have got with what they are given. So they are entrenched and new things can come only from small private ventures.
A good example is the launch from floating platforms. The idea has been on the table for ages and still no space agency has made it happen. It took an outsider to break the entrenchment.
I don't think so, either. (Score:3, Interesting)
What happens if ALL the parachutes fail, something that is not impossible? The resulting landing would kill the pilot and two passengers almost instantly from the impact forces.
At least with Rutan's White Knight/SpaceShip One combination, SpaceShip One will fly a fairly benign flight regime, and the vehicle will glide to a safe horizontal landing between Mojave Aiport and those big dry lake beds at Edwards AFB. And Rutan has carefully studied how the X-15 did its re-entry after its high-altitude flights and designed SpaceShip One to handle safely in the re-entry phase.