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X Prize Race Heats Up
evenprime writes "Armadillo Aerospace
have already done a drop test, and
Burt Rutan's company Scaled Composites did a
second flight test
of their launch plane/spacecraft combination on July 3. SC haven't posted the results yet, but when they do you will find them
here.
Sadly, PanAero doesn't appear to be doing that well.
Although I like their "Junkyard Wars" technique, it doesn't look
stuffing rockets in the back end of a business jet
will build a legitimate contender."
The problem is that the airframe and the wings are NOT designed to withstand the necessary stress of escape velocity.
If you look at the successful "space plane" type vehicles that NASA or any other big research team has developed, you'll see that it required designs that looked more like a rocket than an airplane to get anything anywhere near the edge of space.
If not a "junkyard wars" approach, it is an extremely optimistic design. I would expect the wings to rip out at the roots when they light up the rocket motors.
Runs on OS X, OS9 and Windows. Warning: Harder to fly than MS Flightsim -- of course!
X-Plane, being fairly realistic, even has an FAA rating so it can be used (with a $150.000 motion platform) to log hours towards your Airline Transport Certificate.
Fortunately, Scaled Composite's entry into the X-Prize competition is not as dead-end as some people think.
Remember, by launching SpaceShipOne at over 50,000 feet altitude, that right there saves a tremendous amount of propellant needed to fly to the 62.1 mile altitude. It's the same method that allowed the relatively small X-15 with its XLR-99 rocket motor to reach over 354,000 feet, or 67.5 miles into space. During the late 1980's, there were serious studies about building a small spaceplane launched from the top of a modified 747-200 that has been fitted with a de-rated version of the Space Shuttle main engine; Rutan could apply what he learns from SpaceShipOne and build a small spaceplane that could carry as many as seven crew or its equivalent in cargo to the International Space Station. Indeed, I've heard of a company that proposes towing a fully-fueled spaceplane behind another large jet and then launching it at around 40,000 feet; because it launches at this altitude, the spaceplane needs far less propellants to reach low Earth orbit (LEO).
Using a conventional airframe to go beyond most of the atmosphere has been done before, although not to such a high altitude. For the skeptics, see http://www.batnet.com/mfwright/nf104.html , numerous other sources.
For the person wondering about why the plane would not burn up, it's not in orbit. Reentry speed is nothing akin to the shuttle's drop from 18,000 mph.
Bear in mind however that the closest Chuck Yeager came to being killed while testing a plane was in the NF-104, and that's because of the tricky transition from attitude control by thruster to aerodynamic attitude control.
There's an important difference between going up-and-down and attaining orbit.
To stay in orbit, you've got to accelerate to orbital velocity. That takes about an order of magnitude more energy than just lifting yourself out of the atmosphere.
Notice how long the shuttle's engines keep burning after it is fifty miles up.
That's part of the answer to the question about reentry heating. The business jet won't be braking from 18,000 miles per hour.
Burt Rutan designed and built the Voyager, but it was flown by his brother, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. Dick Rutan is the older brother, and focused his energies on flying including a distingueshed record in Vietnam. Burt Rutan's interests were model airplanes and design. His company, Scaled Composites, was formed to scale up model airplane manufacturing techniques to create larger planes such as Voyager and White Knight.
For more pictures of the vehicle, go here. For an article about the drop test, go here.
But I must note that Scaled Composites will probably fly their vehicle to suborbital altitute before Armadillo does. John Carmack, leader of the Armadillo Aerospace team, posted some comments about his progress and schedule.
Actually, Starchaser's current schedule calls for the Thunderbird launch in late 2004. What you are probably referring to is the Nova rocket, which will be launched this year to a height of 30,000 feet, carrying one man. Check out.Debunking the "59 Deceits"