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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."
I'd hardly call rocket engines added to a working design of a plane a "junkyard wars" approach.
More like two reliable systems mated together. Sure, the union isn't inherently reliable, due to unforseen interactions, but the individual components of each certainly are. They may be behind, but it's no reason to scoff at them.
********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
Open source doesn't always mean successful. I'm sure if Oppenheimer was "open source" while developing the atomic bomb during WWII, it would have been ALOT more difficult to win the war.
Agreed, comparing The Manhatten Project and the X-Prize is a stretch. But it's less of a stretch than comparing OSS and rocket science.
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
I can accept that PanAero's ascent plan may well work, but I suspect the standard airframe will have objections to the proposed 70 angle of attack descent. Their team profile on xprize.com makes no mention of how they're going to control the attitude (the conventional control surfaces won't be any use).
which significantly reduces the problems of going transsonic. Once you take the lack of air into account, turbulence becomes a lot less of a problem!
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
... I'd be spending my moolah on propulsion technology research, as opposed to the more high-profile Drive For The X-Prize.
Dense and compact energy sources... hell, fund fusion research for a start... more powerful and efficent ion engines... I don't happen to be a rocket scientist, but you get the idea.
To me, the one who revolutionizes propulsion, will be the first trillionaire in history. Not to mention a true hero to future generations.
The name's Cochrane... Zefram Cochrane... it could be you...
I would like some interplanetary travel (at least!) before I pass from this place. Someone help me out...
Years later, a doctor will tell me that I have an I.Q. of 48, and am what some people call "mentally retarded".
Carmack may be "open source", but Rutan is probably the most likely person currently participating in the X-Prize competition. This is the guy that designed, built, and flew the Voyager (the first non-stop around the world plane with no refuelling).
Building a single rocket recovered by parachute is simpler than building two complete aircraft.
I agree that Rutan's approach is more likely to lead to a safe and commercially viable suborbital tourist vehicle. But Carmack's approach still has a fair chance to win the X-Prize first. Carmack is taking a lot of shortcuts that a more advanced design like Rutan's simply can't use.
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
Armadillo and Scaled Composites have quite the financial backing and I think everyone believes that it's just a matter of time before either they succeed or take part in the most expensive darwin award to date. I'm kinda tired of the top news story being W's and Blairs lies and the "war in Iraq" that's supposed to be over yet we're still reportting casulties on both sides.
Everyone dreams of going to space, everyone has looked up in the night sky and thought I wonder what it's really like up there, and everyone at one time growing up pretended they were an astronaut/cosmonaut. I really wish the Ministry of News would declare this newsworthy beyound the nince websites and occassional backpage news blurb.
So who do I call, I'm curious, is there a director of the Ministry of News that declares everything in america newsworthy? Isn't it time that we started focusing on individual efforts for success rather than constantly dwelling on what's gone wrong for the last year? Did the war in Iraq stop these guys? Did september 11th (well legislation limiting their supplies sure didn't help)? Are they terrorists in disguise? NO NO NO NO NO, I want everyone to see that there's hope for the future and not everything is so dark and abismal.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
The short answer is yes , the vehicle is almost done. Here's a picture of it parachuting to the ground during a recent drop test on July 5th: http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/Images/RLV/Armadi llo/dropTest-669801-R1-20A_md.jpg . (For more pictures of the vehicle, go to http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Ho me/News?news_id=215 . For an article about the drop test, go to http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology /armadillo_test_030707.html .
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 at http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=U TF-8&safe=off&frame=right&th=3e74ec8f14362b26&seek m=c0e0a1dd.0307071349.7e9778e0%40posting.google.co m#link7 .
>I believe that the Starchaser team are well-advanced on constructing the Thunderbird rocket that will attempt to win the prize late this year.
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 http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/archive/RLV/PR/ME DIA%20ALERT_%20British%20Company%20to%20Unveil%20M anned%20Rocket%20Capsule.htm .
One of the greatest side-effects of the claiming of the X Prize will be something that no one could have predicted just a year ago:
The X Prize will be won while the space shuttle is grounded.
So what, you might ask. Well, it's a big deal. For years, various groups have been trying to persuade NASA to work with, not compete with,
private ventures. And NASA has always given many reasons to refuse, the biggest one being "when was the last time a private company flew a man in space on their own rocket... er, never?" Of course, that's a perfectly legitimate concern.
But when the X-Prize is won while the shuttle is grounded, I think it will send a big message to both NASA and the people in the Administration who hold the purse strings, and we might see some interesting changes in NASA policy, the kind of changes that might speed up the day when every middle class American can enjoy a trip into space for a reasonable price.
Cool, huh?
And it's clear that the X Prize is going to be won soon. Check out
this article, which describes Rutan's plans to fly into space by December.