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Flight Testing Of Burt Rutan's X Prize Entry
evenprime writes "The X Prize website is reporting that
Burt Rutan's company Scaled Composites did some
flight testing on their SpaceShipOne/White Knight launch platform on May 19, 2003. Next up:
drop tests. There's also a nice
write-up at the BBC website."
http://www.xprize.org/
Of course, there's the problem that maybe he can, but nobody else can. This happens. Paul MacReady made human-powered flight work two decades ago. Nobody has done it since. Gregg Williams designed almost all the really small jet aircraft engines - he did his first one in the 1950s, and he designed the engines for cruise missiles, and he's still designing them. One person, Ed Kleinschmidt, designed all the mechanical teletype machines from the 1930s to the last one in the 1970s.
Physicsnerd
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"Even logic must give way to physics" - Spock
From an article on KMSB-TV This history of space missions has been written with solid- or liquid-fuel rockets. Solid-fuel rockets are simple, reliable and inexpensive, but thrust at only one speed, can't be shut down, and produce toxic exhaust. Liquid-fuel rockets can be throttled to control thrust and turned off and on, but are highly complex and less reliable. Hybrid technology combines the advantages of both types of fuel, but can be made more cheaply and with more environmentally benign materials, said Brad Linenberger, a senior in aerospace and mechanical engineering. "The components themselves are safer, because the solid fuel is basically tire rubber and the liquid fuel is nitrous oxide, which is just laughing gas" liquefied under pressure, Linenberger said. "The stuff they put in solid rockets to keep them burning, you don't want to be inhaling that stuff."
here is a link to info about it and a link to a video of the tests.
Almost anything will burn if you supply oxygen at a high enough of a concentration/pressure. I remember a college lab were we made a test rocket engine out of a cylinder of acrylic with a hole bored down the center and hooked up to an oxygen tank. I know its sounds odd, but it does work. This seems of be using the same principles with a different fuel/oxidizer.
Not quite true: these fuels are used in a hybrid fuel enigine. The benefits are an enigne that isn't very explosive, has easy storage and can be throttled back. Liquid fuel or solid fuel engines don't have both of these properties.
Rubber is used because of it's high carbon content, nitrous oxide is used because it stores easier than liquid oxide.
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
Jerry Pournelle posted some more photos on his web site a couple days ago: http://jerrypournelle.com/view/view258.html#SS1
Your design to a real part online: Big Blue Saw
Rutan still has some nifty defense dept. contracts. Scaled Composites created the airframe for the Boeing X-45 UCAV, and I'd bet they probably have a hand in a lot of the other UCAV's too. They have more experience than anyone else when it comes to lightweight, composite material aircraft construction.
um, what do you think solid rocket fuel (i.e. the stuff used in the space shuttle's booster) is? It's basically rubber with an oxider and some metal powders.
The stuff that reacts with the oxygen in most of these rocket engines is a hydrocarbon: rubber, plastics, asphalt, kerosene, etc.
Hm, you got your insightful points out of moderator ignorance I suppose. Ever heard of this little launch system called Pegasus? There is actually a commercially viable business around that one. It uses a solid fuel rocket that is launched from a refurbished Lockheed Tristar. Look here.
-- Spelling and grammar errors tend to be a sign of erroneous thinking.
Not to pick nits, but I'm not sure why you think that planes haven't been used as successful launch platforms.
Most of the X-Planes were air-launched, mostly from B-36 and B-52 bombers. Orbital Sciences' Pegasus rocket is launched from an L-1011 (commercial jet liner).
The Backfire was a bomber, designed to launch cruise missiles. At one point, I believe that the Backfire was hypothesized to fire the cruise missiles backwards out of the bomb bay. I don't know if this was ever proven operationally, but I have a hard time understanding how it would have been advantageous to do so.
Some variants of SU-27 can fire short range air to air missiles backwards, but that's a different kettle of fish.
Anyhow. : )
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Or, at least they should not be.
Darwin's are for people who take questionable actions which the person in question should be able to anticipate the result. Like checking the gas tank at night and lighting a match to see better. Darwins should also extend to people who disregard warnings of danger.
The X-Prize people are knowingly taking a big risk, and are aware of the dangers, and have tried to minimize them. The fatalaties are not going to result from monstously absurd ignorance or stupidity. The errors will be a magnitude or two lower.
If X Prize contenstants are viable Darwin Awards, then so should test pilots, infantry soldiers, and car accident fatalaties.
END COMMUNICATION
Physicsnerd
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"Even logic must give way to physics" - Spock
It is possible to stop all thrust with the solid fuel(HTPB in this case) still in the chamber. All you have to do is shut off the oxidizer. The rubber can't burn, even if it's at temperature without the oxidizer. Infact, hybrids can also be restarted.
physicsnerd
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"Even logic must give way to physics" - Spock
And who builds the wing and tail surfaces for the Pegasus? You guessed it -- Burt Rutan.
thad
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
but because of X-Prize pressure, they are scraping that plan for now. John Carmack said in one of his diaries, that if someone else got the X-Prize before AA, then they'd go back to a powered landing (true VTVL SSTO).
-Malakai
-Malakai
A Dragon Lives in my Garage
The first is "Space Propulsion Analysis and Design" by Humble, Henry, and Larson. Chapter 7 is all about hybrids and their characteristics.
The second is "Rocket Propulsion Elements" by Sutton, and Biblarz. Chapter 15 is on hybrids.
Physicsnerd
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"Even logic must give way to physics"
Just in the interest of accuracy, it is worth noting that at least one X-prize team thinks that balloon launch platforms will be reusable:
IL Aerospace Technologies
"Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative" - Miyamoto Musashi
I think that goes for OS's too