Canadian Arrow Completes Drop Test

hpulley writes "The Canadian press is reporting that X-Prize entrant the Canadian Arrow made its first successful crew compartment drop test on Saturday. It is essentially a modern version of the German V2 rocket. This test was just a drop of the crew compartment to test the parachutes. Next comes a launch abort test to see if the crew can be safely sent away from the vehicle. No word yet on when they might launch the consecutive flights in two-week turnaround for the prize. Fellow Canadian entrant the da Vinci Project will try to launch October 2nd. In the fall, venerable model company Estes Rockets will have a new model of the Canadian Arrow along with models of other entrants like the Rubicon." Oddly enough, I saw the crew compartment being driven around in Toronto on Saturday morning (towed behind a white pickup truck), but I didn't know what they were up to.

Any of these guys German?

[aelbric]

It is essentially a modern version of the German V2 rocket.

Looks like London may not be safe yet. Someone call Tony Blair!

By the way, I have German ancestry (first generation American). Don't get all riled up.

Re:Crew can be safely sent away from the vehicle..

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortuneately no. This technology is designed to return the occupants SAFELY.

Arrows

[synthparadox]

I thought arrows are supposed to be launched from a bow. I demand a refund! This arrow doesn't launch from a bow, and part of it breaks off and floats down... 0.o

Canadian *Arrow*

[bob65]

Interesting name, perhaps a bit nostalgic?

Hmmm - somethins smells fishy...

[stienman]

Are you sure they're Candian? The entire website is in Feet/Miles/Inches! Not a meter in sight!

I dunno. Sounds like we have a couple of american defectors doing the work up there... Time to bring those traiters back. ;-)

-Adam

O.o;

[Eudial]

A manned cruise missile.

Well, there ought to be a first time for everything.

Re:It's named after the legendary Avro Arrow

[stendec]

Lies, lies, all lies! The Avro Arrow was rightly the advanced technomiracle it is popularly known to have been. Here's a brief -- brief -- list of some of its features:

First production aeroplane to sustain Mach 3 without afterburners.

Could fly in space.

Had a Hoser Flight Operator Detector to ensure it was not being flown by the enemy.

Could compose iambic verse in flight.

Was used by the University of Toronto's physics department to empirically test both Einstein's Special and General Theories of Relativity.

Could ratiocinate its own funding to the body politic.

Re:It's named after the legendary Avro Arrow

[Anonymous Coward]

Beautiful.

But you forgot the bit where we had to rate it in moosepower because horsepower isn't big enough. ...roll on, Red Green.

Weak!

[flithm]

As a proud Canadian citizen I am truly embarassed by the Canadian Arrow. It most certainly does not live up to the Avro Arrow, which was ingenious and revolutionary in every sense of the words.

Multi-stage space vehicles are so 1970s! Come on guys! Let's see some true innovation coming from Canada. Maybe, the Canada Super Arm, which would simply pick people up and put them directly into orbit. Or how about, the Canadian Slap Shot Ship, a large black single stage saucer like device launched via contact with a huge wood paddle.

Even I can think of better plans than the Canadian Arrow. Pffft.

Estes to Orbit!

[Anonymous Coward]

>In the fall, venerable model company Estes Rockets will have...

When I read that, for a second my mind finished the sentence as, "...Estes Rockets will have its own X-prize entrant!"

Ah yes, I can just see it. Say, 20 stages, each with a cluster of 400 D12-0 engines. Better reinforce those balsa fins with some epoxy fillets, though. I don't think Elmer's Wood Glue is rated for supersonic applications.

Sex in Space

[Basehart]

"Oddly enough, I saw the crew compartment being driven around in Toronto on Saturday morning (towed behind a white pickup truck)"

Those were the low velocity sex tests. Watch out for the crew compartment being sent over the Niagara Falls for the more advanced Sex in Space tests.

Re:It's named after the legendary Avro Arrow

[AndroidCat]

No it's not! It's a typo--It's supposed to be named after the Nestlé Aero Chunky Chocolate Bar [sickkids.on.ca] because the bubbly contruction, but there was a spelling mistake and then the sponsorship fell through, and...

You're not buying this, are you? *poot*!

Re:Any of these guys German?

[DNS-and-BIND]

"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department," says Wernher von Braun.

Re:Enlighten me...

[Nefarious Wheel]

It's the challenge, not the prize, that drives the game. I once bet my QA team a six pack of fine Pilsener that our current SW release was totally bug-free. They took up the challenge, and 100 or so bug reports came out in the next week as opposed to the usual four or five I could get out of them. They sure showed me, didn't they? ;-) Darn, gosh, they won the bet. Best SW release we ever had, and it only cost me a few bucks worth of beer. My next pay rise sort of more than covered it, and it beat having to fine-tooth a few hundred thousand lines of the ancient Fortran we used.

From Old Fart's Guide to Dirty Software Tricks