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06-21-2004, 08:18 AM
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#41 (permalink) |
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Junk
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The guy who designed it was telling the difference between a sonic and supersonic feather(?) upon re-entry into the earths atmosphere and how easy the difference was (re-entry). Dems some smart cookies those boys. Good for them.
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" In Canada, you can tell the most blatant lie in a calm voice, and people will believe you over someone who's a little passionate about the truth." David Warren, Western Standard. |
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06-22-2004, 04:29 AM
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#48 (permalink) |
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I change
Location: USA
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Just as a reminder of the perilous nature of this pioneering effort, the anomalies that occurred in the flight will cause the team to take a hard look at their technology before shooting for the prize.
And just for the record, the craft went faster than a speeding bullet - see below... ... 'Anomalies' in first private spaceflight revealed 12:27 22 June 04 NewScientist.com news service The flight of the first private astronaut was not as perfect as it first appeared – a number of glitches occurred during the flight, some potentially catastrophic. The revelations were made by Burt Rutan, designer of SpaceShipOne, which on Monday became the world's first privately funded craft to enter space. Until the team fully understands exactly what went wrong during the flight, he said, they will not go ahead with the pair of flights needed to claim the $10 million Ansari X-Prize. Luckily, the glitches did not prevent a successful flight. But pilot Mike Melvill said that a partial failure of the system controlling the spacecraft's orientation could have been disastrous if it had occurred just slightly earlier in the flight,. The problem struck at the end of the rocket engine's firing time of about 70 seconds, just as Melvill reached space. "As I came out of the atmosphere I no longer had any attitude control," Melvill told New Scientist and other reporters. "If that had happened earlier, I would never have made it and you all would be looking sad right now." Big bang Although that was the most serious anomaly, it was not the only frightening moment for the 62-year-old test pilot. There was also a loud bang behind him while the rocket engine was firing. The team believes this was caused by aerodynamic stresses crumpling a composite material fairing around the engine nozzle. However, Dick Rutan, Burt's brother and a famed test pilot himself, said that fairing could have fallen off completely without endangering the craft. Melvill's first frightening moment on the historic flight came at the very instant he flipped the switch to turn on the hybrid rocket motor. The craft suddenly lurched over 90° to the right, and as soon as he brought it back to level it then rolled 90° to the right. "I was ready to hit the switch" to turn off the motor and abort the flight, he said, but the craft remained steady and he was able to continue and achieve the 100 kilometre altitude that officially makes him an astronaut. This difficulty appears unrelated to the later failure of attitude control, Melvill said. Despite Melvill's 25 years of piloting experimental craft, he found even the normal operation of the rocketship alarming, as it travelled faster and higher than any previous privately-built craft. Speeding bullet SpaceShipOne was travelling "faster than an M-16 rifle bullet", Rutan said, about around 2400 km/h (1500 mph) or mach 3.2. As it reentered the atmosphere, falling like a badminton shuttlecock almost straight down, the rushing air sounded like a hurricane, said Melvill. "Coming down is frightening, because of that roaring sound," he said. "You can really hear how that vehicle is being pounded." Until the exact causes of the anomalies are understood, there will be no X-Prize attempt, Rutan said: "There's no way we would fly again without knowing the cause and being sure we had fixed it." But despite the problems, the mood among the team remained extremely buoyant about their success. Melvill recounted how, as he became weightless, he opened a bag of M&M chocolates to watch them float around the cabin. But it was the sublime view that affected him the most. "The sky was jet black, with light blue along the horizon - it was really an awesome sight," he said. "You really do get the feeling that you've touched the face of God."
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create evolution |
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06-22-2004, 12:24 PM
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#50 (permalink) |
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Psycho
Location: Under my roof
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Such an amazing event for private industry aeronautics. I wish he had pictures to show off of his M&Ms and the Horizon he describes.
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I think that's what they mean by "nickels a day can feed a child." I thought, "How could food be so cheap over there?" It's not, they just eat nickels. - (supposedly) Peter Nguyen, internet hero |
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06-22-2004, 12:58 PM
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#51 (permalink) | |
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Junkie
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Quote:
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06-26-2004, 10:28 PM
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#54 (permalink) | |
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With a mustache, the cool factor would be too much
Location: left side of my couch, East Texas
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Quote:
 Thanks, ART. I especially like the pic that says "SpaceShipOne...GovernmentZero." 
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06-27-2004, 12:40 AM
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#56 (permalink) |
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I change
Location: USA
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yep...it's from www.coasttocoastam.com
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create evolution |
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09-29-2004, 03:26 AM
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#57 (permalink) |
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I change
Location: USA
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UPDATE
Day dawns for X Prize space shot 11:21 29 September 04 NewScientist.com news service A pioneering aviation company will attempt to rocket into space on Wednesday in a bid to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize. The prize will go to the first non-governmental vehicle that can ferry three people to a height of 100 kilometres twice within two weeks. Successful in the second flight, currently scheduled for 4 October, would clinch the prize for the Scaled Composites team, based in Mojave, California. Thousands of spectators are expected to descend on the airport of the small desert town of Mojave, where the flight is scheduled for takeoff at 0647 PDT (1447 BST). A jet plane called White Knight will carry rocket SpaceShipOne slung beneath it to a height of 14,330 metres (47,000 feet). At about 0750 PDT (1550 BST), the jet will release SpaceShipOne. The rocket will fire its engine for about 90 seconds to shoot above 100 kilometres - the official start of space. Its crew will experience about three minutes of weightlessness and be able to see the curvature of the Earth before descending for about 20 minutes and gliding to a landing around 0830 PDT (1630 BST). X Prize director Peter Diamandis set up the prize in 1996 in order to spur commercial spaceflight. He was inspired by the $25,000 Orteig Prize set up in 1919 that led to Charles Lindbergh's famed trans-Atlantic flight of 1927. "Dream is alive" Now, that vision is turning into a reality. On Monday, airline mogul Richard Branson announced he was licensing SpaceShipOne's technology and that a new company, Virgin Galactic, could begin tourist flights to space in 2007 for about $190,000 per ticket. That momentum - and a sense of giddy camaraderie - could be felt at Mojave's airport on the eve of the flight. "The dream is alive," said a grinning airport employee. Dan DeLong, chief engineer for XCOR Aerospace, a Mojave-based company not vying for the X Prize, says Scaled Composites is showing the general public that space tourism is not a flight of fancy. "It's helping to kill the giggle factor," DeLong said, referring to people's reactions when he tells them he hopes to build a two-person rocket-powered plane to take people into space. First civilian astronaut By Tuesday evening, Scaled Composites had still not revealed who would be piloting either White Knight or SpaceShipOne. But several knowledgeable sources said veteran pilot Michael Melvill would probably take the helm. Melvill became the first civilian astronaut when he flew the rocket above 100 km in June. That flight did not qualify for the X Prize, however, because it did not include two additional people, or their weight equivalent, as winning flights must. Scaled Composite's team is led by aviation pioneer Burt Rutan, who designed the first airplane to fly non-stop around the world without refuelling in 1986. Funding, estimated at $20 million, is provided by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. ............ It's a vision thing. The kind of vision that is born by raising one's head skyward is a sort of birthright in us. The dream of flight is not bound by our atmosphere. Space is immediately accessible to our vision. We see it always there - above us. Brave attempts like this one never fail to inspire. Best of luck to this group of space pioneers!
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create evolution |
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09-29-2004, 08:14 AM
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#59 (permalink) |
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Drifting
Administrator
Location: Windy City
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Very good to hear they made it back safely!
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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna |
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09-29-2004, 08:32 AM
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#60 (permalink) |
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<3 TFP
Location: 17TLH2445607250
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Capitalism, Governments and everything else be damned... this is just impressive in a raw, awe-inspiring way. I've been reading about this project (and the X-prize) for many months now. It's sad, in some ways, that people are just so unimpressed with things these days. We're so used to "technological breakthroughs" that sometimes it's hard to sort out what's still really amazing.
Well, my friends, this is one of those things. Bask in the glory! Last edited by xepherys; 09-29-2004 at 08:33 AM.. Reason: typo(e) |
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09-30-2004, 02:18 AM
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#62 (permalink) | |
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Banned
Location: Massachusetts, USA
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Quote:
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09-30-2004, 04:22 AM
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#64 (permalink) |
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Banned
Location: Massachusetts, USA
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Well, given that I'm now up, 24-hours after I was awake yesterday for this, I'm using the time to go through the images, some of which are AVIs I had the camera make. Let me give a bit of a time line. Note that I was associated with X-COR, which is not Scaled Composites, but is doing some similar things. That's why they're at Mojave.
It was dark and chilly out there. Few people were around. It was warmer and there were munchies inside the hanger, but I stayed outside. I've rarely encountered that kind of environment: an airport a large runway in a small town with mountains in the distance. "And darkness was upon the face of the deep." Yeah, that too: it were dark out. I was dressed in a t-shirt and denim shorts, so it was one of the few situations where being fat was useful. I got cold, sure, but it took longer. The sun came up slowly, and things started to happen. More people showed up at the X-COR hanger, for instance. Then the news of the name of the pilot for the launch was announced over the radio. Later, the space craft/airplane combination went by. Dammit, I don't see that I got a picture of this! It went right by us, and I didn't get a picture! Continuing.... |
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09-30-2004, 03:13 PM
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#65 (permalink) |
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Banned
Location: Massachusetts, USA
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Okay, I've created a site. It's not done yet, but y'all can look at it as I make it available. It's at this location. Looks like the reason I didn't see any good images of the good stuff is that it was either far away, requiring a lot of cropping to see, or I'd taking a movie clip of it, which doesn't show up in iPhoto. But you can see what I've got on that site.
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10-01-2004, 10:09 AM
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#66 (permalink) |
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Upright
Location: Texas
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Man, that spacecraft is just facinating to look at just sitting on the runway. A work of art in my mind.
Soooooo. The question is, would you be a passenger if you could? Personally, I probably would. I *used* to fantasize about riding the Shuttle into orbit. Even after watching a couple launches. But then I saw one on re-entry on night. It's glide path taking it about 30 degrees above the horizon. The thing was travelling so fast and was so hot the plasma was bright enough for me to cast a shadow. That pretty much put an end to any desire I had to go up in one. But SpaceShipOne is a different story, just a straight up shot and back down. Perhaps.... Oh - BTW - nice page Denim. I'm quite envious. :-) -tb2 |
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10-01-2004, 10:20 AM
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#67 (permalink) | |||
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Banned
Location: Massachusetts, USA
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Quote:
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I missed the party in June when they first tested SSO, but I'm damn well here now! I had to leave the party on Tuesday, but I'll be there for the entire thing Sunday/Monday. One suggestion, for those who book via Travelocity: if you get "Total Trip" arrangements, they don't allow any changes at all, for any price. OTOH, I contacted the airline involved, and they were willing to make changes for a $100 surcharge. I won't do "Total Trip" again unless I'm certain to not need changes. |
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10-01-2004, 11:24 AM
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#68 (permalink) |
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Watcher
Location: Ohio
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Awsome.
Nothing much more I need to say. Here's a torrent link for the first X prize flight. Awsome. You bet your ass I'm seeding...and so are a LOT of others. http://tracker.degreez.net/X-Prize-flight-1.wmv.torrent  Scaled Composites
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I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence: "My Invisible Friend is better than your Invisible Friend." |
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10-01-2004, 03:00 PM
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#70 (permalink) |
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Fluxing wildly...
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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It's a torrent... use a bittorrent client to open it and download the movie. Like azureus. http://azureus.sourceforge.net/
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flux (n.) Medicine. The discharge of large quantities of fluid material from the body, especially the discharge of watery feces from the intestines. |
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10-04-2004, 07:24 AM
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#73 (permalink) |
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Observant Ruminant
Location: Rich Wannabe Hippie Town
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They made it. Miles whatsisname on CNN just announced that the X-Prize judges gave their official count of the altitude reached: 368,000 feet, well over the requirement.
I watched it all. Had tears in my eyes, let me tell you. Caught "Black Sky" on Discovery last night, a really great two-hour documentary of the whole SpaceShip One project, up to the first flight above 300,000 feet this summer. Discovery is broadcasting a re-edited and updated version of "Black Sky" this Thursdays night. If you're interested in this project, don't miss it. Last edited by Rodney; 10-04-2004 at 07:27 AM.. |
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10-04-2004, 08:36 PM
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#78 (permalink) |
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Observant Ruminant
Location: Rich Wannabe Hippie Town
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The thing that really gets me about this project is that it's the way people thought space travel would happen, 60 and 70 years ago. The same story must have been written 1000 times in the old science fiction pulps of the '30s and '40s: Some wild-eyed professor would invent a speical rocket motor or rocket fuel and dream of going to orbit. He'd catch the interest of a visionary industrialist with a wild streak and, with a small band of dedicated mechanics and engineers, would build a rocket that would take mankind into space against all odds.
Well, with the national space programs of the '50s and '60s we all got convinced that space travel could never happen that way. Individuals could never do it; only vast bureaucracies funded by government could do what was necessary to get man into space. Individual initiative and creativity was behind the point; space travel was all about decisions made between bureaucratic committees and carried out by vast aerospace companies under heavy bureaucratic control. Space travel was too complicated for anything else to work. That route to space travel gradually ground to a halt under the weight of its own bureaucracy, both here and in Russia. And once in a while I'd ask myself, where are the crazy billionaires when we need them? Where are the wild-eyed, big-dreaming maverick rocket scientists? And that's why I had tears in my eyes when SpaceshipOne launched today. There was a crazy billionaire out there after all, willing to spend money on a big dream that might never turn a profit -- although it will. And there was a maverick airplane designer and his small band of dedicated compatriots who found an ingenious way to get into space on the cheap that no aerospace bureaucracy would ever dare. And you know, if the crazy billionaires and the maverick technologists are all out there after all, like the pulp writers used to think they were -- maybe _anything_ is possible. |
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10-05-2004, 06:50 AM
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#80 (permalink) |
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Upright
Location: Texas
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October 4th! What a great day!
I watched the event via streaming video at work. I was quite pleased a fairly stable 300K feed was provided. I looked to see who sponsored it to offer my gratitude, but couldn't find them. The X-Prize Cup sounds okay. I suppose it's an attempt to keep those who lost interested in the race. I am really hesitant to use the term "lost" - Personally, I'm very appreciative of all who even made the attempt to build a private rocket to space. Truly a bold project and all deserve recognition who participated. Regardless of the nobility and purpose of the X-Prize Cup, I believe the next real race is to orbit. That's a whole different ball game, and it may be that it's just plain unrealistic to expect a privately funded project to achieve it. But then again, "never say never" as they say... Thanks for the heads-up on "Black Sky" Rodney! -tb2 |
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| atmosphere, breaks, earth, funded, privately, rocket |
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