Guest plainswolf Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Well it sounds like Monday is the day that Burt Rutan is going to attempt to fly his Space Ship One into a suborbital flight... If he succeeeds he will win the $10,000,000.00 XPrize.. http://www.spacedaily.com/news/xprize-04g.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 I don't think this flight will get him the prize. I've been researching this a little, and it appears that they have to do two sub orbital flights within 2 weeks, carrying 3 people. I definitely think they'll be able to do it eventually though. I wonder how much of their R&D costs will be covered by the $10,000,000 Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tannji Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 I read up a bit on Scaled Composites about a year ago, and I seem to recall Rutan saying that his R&D was no where near as high as it should be, because ALL of his initial design and testing was virtual, on existing equipment. I would imagine that even with his savings, R&D is still out of the reach of you and I..... But the $10mil is still a lot of money, for someone who isnt exactly motivated by the money alone. Rutan has an impressive track record, and I personally give him better than a 50% chance. I think Rutan intends this to be the Kitty Hawk of Space Flight. With all due respect to NASA, I am very glad that there is an alternative approach being tried.... Politics have far too major of an influence on NASA's efforts. If anyone has read Carl Sagan, Asimov, Pohl, or even the pure Science Fiction of Kim Stanley Robinson (Red, Green, and Blue Mars series) you can imagine what my personal feelings are on space and our role in it. We havent really moved forward since the 1970's, and given NASA's track record, up to and including the current space station, my inherent feeling that I was born too early too early (too early to be able to see the progress I imagined as a kid) is being overwhelmed by the sense that we have spent the last 30-odd years wasting our money and time, not to mention squandering what might be a limited opportunity to salvage some of the damage we have done to our environment, and any chance we ever have of spreading beyond our earthly origins. Given the current state of affairs in the middle east, in the fossil fuels arena, and in general with regards to international politics and America's dwindling power and influence, it would seem to me that the developement of space and any chance of expanding man's presence in it will be largely dependant upon commercial developement. It is time that the Government cooperated with and encouraged this process, rather than hindering and attempting to control access to it. Well, I didnt intend to rant... so I'll get off the soap box now.... but I am rooting for Rutan, if you hadnt gathered that already, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tannji Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Excerpt from a current Scaled Composites press release: Unlike any previous manned space mission, the June flight will allow the public to view, up close, the takeoff and landing as well as the overhead rocket boost to space. This will be an historic and unique spectator opportunity. Information for the general public on attending the event is available at http://www.scaled.com. Based on the success of the June space flight attempt, SpaceShipOne will later compete for the Ansari X Prize, an international competition to create a reusable aircraft that can launch three passengers into sub-orbital space, return them safely home, then repeat the launch within two weeks with the same vehicle. The Discovery Channel and Vulcan Productions are producing RUTAN’S RACE FOR SPACE (wt), a world premiere television special that documents the entire process of the historic effort to create the first privately-funded spacecraft. From design to flight testing to the moments of the actual launch and return, the special takes viewers behind-the-scenes for the complete, inside story of this historic aerospace milestone. RUTAN’S RACE FOR SPACE will be broadcast later this year. It appears that the June 21st flight will be a pilot solo, to break the 62 mile barrier, (they have already ascended 40 miles earlier this year) then later this year they will attempt the fly-and-return with a crew of 3 twice and with refueling in between flights, to claim the X-prize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tannji Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 hmm.... how did I double-post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strotter Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Looking forward a few years, when there are a number of commercial options for going into space (satellite delivery, satellite maintenance, L.E.O. research flights, some limited tourism, maybe even deliveries to the space station, whatnot), what'll happen when (and note I said "when", not "if") some fatalities occur? One huge advantage that NASA and the military have is that, because they're arms of the Federal government conducting research & development, they're not as liable for deaths in the "reasonable conduct" of their missions. Will private companies (such as Lockheed, McDonald-Douglas, others and new ones) be similarly free of liability? I shudder to think what would happen to any startups that lost passengers, or even pilots. Won't the lawyers descend, drooling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tannji Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 lol, once again, 30 years of reading science fiction comes to the rescue.... as those writers have been thinking this out for more than 50 years. For a lot of reasons, liability among them, you will probably see countries other than NATO members as the first to allow facilities that cater to private or commercial space concerns. I would think the closer a small country is to the equator, the greater chance they would have of being involved. Personally, I think that the concept of a "space elevator" which has been featured in several major novels, as well as some very well read science magazines, might end up being the most practical means of achieving orbit, as well as the most novel means of reaching orbital velocity.... Think about it.... you could quite easily set up a rocket-powered sled on a track, attached to the side of the Empire State building to get to the top, but due to many concerns, elevators have been used. It seems that every time a seriously new and wondrous material is discovered, someone brings the idea of the elevator up. Once the prospect of getting into orbit has been taken out of the sexy realm of rocket propelled flight, and into the mundane tech like elevators, it seems to be less an idea of risk, liability, and funding, and more like waiting for the proper material or composite to be developed and mass-produced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest plainswolf Posted June 21, 2004 Share Posted June 21, 2004 I am also rooting for rutan. I've even read that the pilot, as well as the future passengers/crew, will not even wear pressurised suits within SpaceShipOne. I have to love a group of private individuals who are again about to break new ground in the aerospace realm. "Homebuilders" have, and hopefully always will devise, design, and produce new innovations within the aerospace industry. After all, to the best of my knowledge, it was an individual within the homebuilding industry that designed and produced a fantastic safety device that has since been FFa approved... the "Ballistic Recovery System" in which a pressurized or rocket deployed parachute lands the whole of a small aircraft with the pilot still inside of the plane, which has saved numerous lives to date. Not to mention Rutan's work and pioneering in the composite construction of small aircraft.... just like the Voyager....and now the Space Ship One. Not to mention that this is also represents a HUGE leap forward in cheaper, potentially safer. and more efficient space travel... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thurem Posted June 21, 2004 Share Posted June 21, 2004 I just heard about this on cnn, supposedly the rocket runs on rubber and NOS. Does that make it a Rice-Rocket? And for drag racing maybe some people will start to apply the NOS at the tires instead of the engine!!! Ohh yeah, I saw what this contraption looks like, and I was like: "Far out man, space out, dude". Anyways just some thoughts Thure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strotter Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 Thurem, that type of motor is referred to as a "hybrid"! Smileys! tannji: So you'd register your spacecraft the same way they license ships! That's a great idea! Great for Bahrain or Lithuania, too! Thank goodness for Sci-Fi writers and their ilk - it's often the details that matter most. I remember reading somewhere, probably in Astounding years ago, that a "good" futurist in the 1940s might have predicted freeways; a "great" one would predict traffic jams. A blurb on Reuters was saying that a NASA official (Michael Lembeck of NASA's office of exploration systems) has suggested - and this is a *great* idea - that the Congress offer multi-million dollar prizes for "landmark" ventures, such as "the first soft landing on the moon, or for returning a piece of an asteroid to Earth." He suggested these prizes be from $10 million to $30 million. Personally, I think they should be larger - a billion dollars for a soft-landing on a comet, demonstrating a functioning solar sail, or polar lunar landing would be a *steal* at twice the price. This is a very exciting time to be alive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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