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Is anyone else as excited by the recent successes of Burt Rutan's X-Prize contender SpaceShipOne?
Richard Branson has formed a new company called "Virgin Galactic" and is throwing large sums of cash at Scaled Composites and expects to be flying tourists into space by 2007 for around 200K a ticket. I know this is still expensive but the revenue generated will be going straight back into the technology and costs will come down. I firmly believe it possible I might make it into space before I die, something that didnt seem very likely only a short while ago.
This is a momentous time, the dawn of a new era.
I am truly mystified by how little "air time" this story gets on the news...
This is humanitys' biggest milestone I can think of.. Time to get excited people!!
Have you checked out the flight video of the first official run?
Just go to Scaled Composites web site and download it. ITS AWESOME!
http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/
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wait wait... has it already made its second trip?
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not yet
"Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems." - Rene Descartes (1596-1650) -
oh ok... so no goodness yet. Still I imagine its gonna work out for 'em from what I'm hearing.Originally Posted by BJ_M
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Hello,
Yeah the second test is today I believe. Pretty cool stuff. Though it's kind of a let down they have to get a piggyback ride on a transport plane first. Not enough onboard thrust to do it on its own. Though, making your own booster rockets the size of NASA's wouldn't be cost effective!
KevinDonatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw? -
History Science channel is broadcasting live today at 9am Eastern US Time, the second attempt.....
I was trying to watch the show "Black Sky" last night (I caught it way too late - midnight) and they had a real good behind the scenes look of the making of SS1. Rutan allowed a camera crew to film the entire build process, but obviously would not allow them to talk about it until after it was unveiled.
They showed quite a bit of the cockpit and tail/wing camera views of the test flights... quite amazing considering that they almost crashed the thing on at least 2 occasions - 1 in a glide test and another just after they tested the rocket engine for the first time and were landing - came in too hard and broke the port side landing gear off like a twig.
There's another show about it on this Thursday at 9pm eastern US time... on History channel, I think....
It's been getting little news because up until this summer, Rutan has been keeping it a secret. That and other news has been pushing it back. I've been trying to keep an eye on their news since their initial space test flight earlier this summer.... This is definately a historic event - privatizing space travel.... -
Hello,
I saw a public tv special on the making of the stealth bomber and other skunkworks stuff. Really neat considering all the secrecy. They built one of the topsecret jets in the middle of a California city and then shipped it out to the desert for testing! Cool!
KevinDonatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw? -
One of the things I am amazed at is the fuel. This thing burns nitrous oxide and car tyres(rubber). I am fairly certain I read that the fuel tank cannot explode. A big plus in my books.
Another thing that amazes me is the "re-entry mode" she uses. folds her wings back and goes into shuttlecock mode, automaticly orients itself for optimal re-entry angle. Some well thought out concepts in this baby. NASA should be red faced! -
it doesnt burn car tires exactly - but a rubber based compound ...
wax (like ordinary wax) is another substance considered by many as it contains a huge amount if potential stored energy (as does the rubber compound they are using)"Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems." - Rene Descartes (1596-1650) -
Yeah, I know its not really cars tyres
It is used in the making of tyres though.
Hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), a butadiene is a stable and easily stored synthetic rubber, often used in tire manufacturing. -
I'm excited about the actual space ship and the achievement.
As for Branson, well he's just a publicity whore. -
Its been a sucess, just watched it on Sky News.
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Hello,Originally Posted by Hardcoreruss
Sky News, how appropriate!!
Good for him.
KevinDonatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw? -
From Reuters news wire -
I hope that Discovery, vanilla History channel, or TLC show this achievement... I don't get the History Science channel or Discovery Wings channel....
SpaceShipOne Blasts Into Space in Run for Prize
By Gina Keating
MOJAVE, Calif. (Reuters) - A privately built rocket plane blasted straight up through blue skies above the Mojave desert on Monday and reached its target altitude in a bid to win a $10 million prize for the first commercially viable manned spacecraft, flight controllers said.
They said that SpaceShipOne, a stubby-winged craft about the size of a minivan, had shot up to 368,000 feet, beyond its target altitude of 328,000 feet.
If that result is certified, the space plane would win the Ansari X Prize for the first non-government team to fly three people, or the equivalent weight, to at least 62 miles in altitude and do it again within two weeks.
Brian Binnie, the 51-year-old former Navy pilot who helmed SpaceShipOne's first powered flight, was at the controls for Monday's flight.
The carrier aircraft, White Knight, ferried SpaceShipOne to about 50,000 feet and then released it for its roughly 80-second rocket-fueled stab through Earth's atmosphere.
Binnie had been expected to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness before SpaceShipOne arced back toward Earth in a long, spiral glide and landed safely back at Mojave airport.
Thousands had gathered and pressed against a rope line near the runway at the airport before dawn on Monday. Many watched through binoculars and telephoto lenses, erupting into applause when it was announced that SpaceShipOne cleared its target altitude.
The flight was being closely monitored by entrepreneurs hoping to profit from developing commercial space, and by Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) officials and lawmakers who must regulate the new industry.
"I really do believe it is a historic thing -- the beginning of personal transportation into space," FAA (news - web sites) Administrator Marion Blakey told reporters on Sunday. "This makes it real ... it has not had that tangible quality."
The ship was built by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, a joint project of aircraft designer Burt Rutan and financier Paul Allen, for $20 million to $30 million.
It made its first successful X Prize flight on Sept. 29.
On that flight, 63-year-old pilot Michael Melvill rode SpaceShipOne to a launch altitude of 48,000 feet attached to the belly of carrier plane White Knight.
White Knight released SpaceShipOne into a glide and Melvill fired the ship's rocket engine to boost the craft to three times the speed of sound and a peak altitude of 63.9 miles.
Despite a series of unplanned vertical rolls that prompted Melvill to shut down the ship's engine early, he afterward described the flight as "near-perfect flight as far as I could see."
The X Prize was founded in 1996 by space enthusiast Peter Diamandis in the hope that it would spur a commercial space travel industry
I'd love to see the cockpit camera views as well as the wing camera views of his entry into "Black Sky".... -
I think I'll hold out for the space elevator.
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Hello,Originally Posted by adam
I'd hate to get stuck in that in a blackout!!!
KevinDonatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw? -
We have a winner.
Congrats to all involved -
Again, Reuters reports:
SpaceShipOne Wins $10 Million X-Prize with Launch
MOJAVE, Calif. (Reuters) - SpaceShipOne, the world's first privately funded manned spacecraft, on Monday reached space for the second time in less than a week to win a $10 million prize designed to spur commercial space travel.
The stubby, three-seat rocket plane hurtled to a height of 368,000 feet traveling at more than three times the speed of sound to reach space on the last of two flights required to win the Ansari X Prize.
"We are proud to announce that SpaceShipOne has made two flights to 100 kilometers (62 miles) and has won the Ansari X Prize," Peter Diamandis, founder of the X Prize announced to reporters at Mojave airport.
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An excellent achievement, especially the fact the craft is totally reusable, the piggy back idea is great and of course scalable.
i'm not really interested in going to space myself, i don't think it's something i'll ever be able to afford - but cheaper access to earth orbit is a definite plus for science and our future. -
Agreed. Add to that they are not burning up thousands of gallons of chemicals to boost an overweight rocket into orbit... I love the space programs, but I always wondered when someone would develop a cleaner, more efficient way to get people into space.
Now if they can develop this craft to actually orbit and meet up with an orbiting platform - then we're talking some big savings for any space program! Imagine sending our astronauts to the space station like this?
It's an incredible accomplishment. -
It's made 3 trips! The initial a few months ago, then two more within the last 14 daysOriginally Posted by Flaystus"Terminated!" :firing:
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I saw the "Black Sky" show on Discovery Channel last night ...very interesting.
Burt Rutan does it again:first around the world without refueling now space.
BTW..Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sponsered this project. -
They have some plans, though they are not major priorities, to make something that can land on the moon and return to earth. NASA is even offering them some of their research on the previous explorations, so they can possibly improve on anything that has been previously done.
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Maybe in our lifetime (anyhow Cap, myself and few others) we will see flights to the moon.
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ahh - we already saw flghts to the moon ...
though if we landed is still some debate .. :
"Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems." - Rene Descartes (1596-1650) -
I think we should be putting satellites around the moon and then working on a space station there. Having a freefloating space station orbiting the earth is great, but when the moon is already doing it, why not use what's already there? Do a little more in-depth study of the moon and start building on it. See if we can use Moon materials to make things. Then we have a quick-stop at the moon before we head to Mars.
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Anyone else seen the BBC series "The Planet?"
In "Atmosphere" this idiot flys on a special helium
balloon up past 100,000 km right to the edge of atmosphere (Space) all while nursing a punctured
pressure suit.
You have to see it to believe it. Available on DVD. -
The more amazing part to this story is that this fella then cuts away from the balloon above 100,000 feet (NOT kilometers...) and his body actually broke the sound barrier as he re-entered the atmosphere.offline Posted: Oct 05, 2004 02:24
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Anyone else seen the BBC series "The Planet?"
In "Atmosphere" this idiot flys on a special helium
balloon up past 100,000 km right to the edge of atmosphere (Space) all while nursing a punctured
pressure suit. -
Hello,
(not to get political here but just a quick reference):Originally Posted by doramius
That was what the president (of the US) suggested. Building a base on the moon before going to Mars. Not a bad idea. Get a supply drop and prep in 0G to get going. Than blast off in space. Or have the actuall ship in space so the inital boost wouldn't need to be so big. Then have landers like the lunar landers so the bulk of the ship won't have to be fuel.
KevinDonatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw? -
Just queued on my dvd rental site, sounds interesting.Originally Posted by offline
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