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scaled composite's space craft reaches 40 miles
Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites's SpaceShipOne achieved 40 nm (211 odd thousand feet) on the 13th May. Pretty impressive feat!
http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...view%20800.jpg http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...ather_tail.jpg |
Pretty impressive feet, too.
Sorry, couldn't help it. Pun therapy group didn't meet last week.... |
Impressive camera work
What was he flying/riding? |
And no flying gloves....RESPECT!!!
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Something I don't understand:
If other orbital/suborbital craft need ablative coatings &/or high performance insulating tiles, how come this one seems not to need them? Is it that as a suborbital craft, lacking orbital velocity, lack the kinetic energy to disipate? What about the early suborbital Mercury capsules? I thought they needed an ablative shield? |
Mr. Rutan designed the Spaceship to have a very low re-entry speed by making it have very high drag - the glider literally folds up to come down steeply and (relatively) slowly. Since they haven't gone to orbit, the speed can be low.
There is a minimum of ablative material as the heat build up is relatively low, at least in comparison to the Shuttle or 'normal' space capsules. But what is equally impressive and can be seen in the photo of the interior, is the interesting artificial horizon. |
and, of course, what appears to be a digital clock blutacked to a pillar to the pilot's left!
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Now they have announced they are going for their first attempt at space on 21 June I am sure we all wish them well
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I just visited their internet site, impressive stuff but one question: Where they have lost a nose gear?? Or did they run out of money in desinging one?? Anyhow, it could be a pretty bumpy landing with that kind of nosege....or whatever it might be. Let's hope it'll all go well.
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Just a note: but the top photo is the carrier aircraft White Knight, not SS1. You can tell as the reg is on the panel.
Shawn thanks for pointing out the speed difference. I was trying to get my head around that fact as well but had missed that bit of info so far! :ok: Let's hope it goes well for them. |
Sincere good wishes to Mike Melvill and the whole team for a successful flight today.
RSN ex-FTE @ BAE. |
Likewise, best of luck, hope it all goes well - you deserve every success.
For everybody else, there's a live newsfeed (video + audio) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/live/now1.ram G |
Private rocket plane successfully punches into space MOJAVE, Calif., June 21 (Reuters) - SpaceShipOne successfully punched beyond the earth's atmosphere on Monday in the world's first attempt at manned commercial space flight. The privately funded rocket plane was released from a larger plane called the White Knight and ignited its rocket engine to enter space 62 miles (100 km) above the earth. The distinctive white rocket plane took off from a runway in the Mojave Desert in California, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, and was expected to land back there. |
Well, that seems to have gone jolly well - many thanks to the BBC for the video feed, which stopped me doing any work for the last couple of hours:O
Hearty congratulations to the whole team at Scaled, that was a fantastic effort. Best of luck with the next launch - and if any of you fancy posting on here about how it has gone, you'll have a ready audience. G |
SpaceShipOne future
Apart from the following:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches...ss_040621.html have not heard much about the future plans for Rutan's space ship. Is it grounded for repair/design change? Do they plan to fly again soon? The report in the link suggests that there is very significant risk in this project, which is not surprising. Many have said that safety standards will have to be relaxed to allow private space travel. However, there is, in today's risk averse society, a low limit on the risk organizations will be allowed to take. |
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