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Diamandis Predicts X-Prize Winner Within One Year
drix writes "Things are moving along for the X-Prize. The FAA is currently in the process of approving a launch site for competitors, several of which are set to launch "within the next few months." Perhaps most exciting, Peter Diamandis says he expects a winner within one year."
:)
Harder than that. They've got to reach "space" twice. Using the same vessel. Although I believe the definition of space is a little subjective. It is high enough for NASA to consider them astronauts, but I believe it is not high enough for a satellite launch.
They discussed "manned" exploration, so I would assume they want to bring him/her back down :)
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They have to complete a suborbital flight (100 km IIRC), and then turn around and do it again with the same spacecraft within 2 weeks.
"Fifty million Americans can't be wrong," said Rep. Billy Tauzin. Gore - 50,999,897 Bush - 50,456,002
The X Prize contest calls for launching a manned craft to 62 miles (100 kilometers), generally considered the cusp of space, and returning it safely to Earth. And then doing it again within 14 days.
So it does have to come down, and then go back up, and back down again... safely.
Although I'm rooting for Armadillo Aerospace, I visited the Scaled Composites website a few days ago. They seem to be very close to a successful launch. They've been doing all sorts of drop/glide tests of their spaceship, and they've seen a lot of success with those tests. Their crazy shuttle-cock decent seems to work fine. (This is especially amusing after all of the slashdot posts about how a winged successor to the space shuttle is the worst idea ever.) Also, they outsourced their engine construction which, seeing the kind of trouble Armadillo is having with their engines, might turn out to be a winning strategy.
No, not really, it's a hybrid engine he's chosen. They're generally reckoned to be much simpler and far safer than the solid rockets that the Shuttle uses; even amateurs fairly regularly build them, and with generally good results. Provided he can keep it pointing in the right direction he should be fine.
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"Delta V for a suborbital flight like that is about 2km/s compared to around 10km/s for an orbital flight; so it's about a factor of 5x less delta-v.
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"I know this is out of character for a Canadian, but I do have to say I have a soft spot for the Canadian Arrow project. http://www.canadianarrow.com
I have been following it closely, and all of their tests have been reasonably successful, they have their astronaut team now, and they are almost done training. They've finished engine testing, and are even preparing for secondary business ventures when the project is complete (read "spacediving" on their page.)
So currently now, I am just waiting for them to do their launch (which if I remember correctly from the latest clip of them on "Daily Planet" they were saying was going to be early to mid 2004, barring no complications.
The Da Vinci project looks good as well, but I just haven't paid that much attention to it.
Oh well, no matter what happens, hopefully this will get the publics attention, and these companies will continue development further into even more spaceworthy vehicles (ie orbital, etc.) with the money they make from tourism (Assuming they make money. ^_^)
~ kjrose
If you had, oh say, $750K in your investment account wouldn't you be tempted to take a ride for $100K?
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I've been following the X-Prize competition quite closely. There are two contenders that might win the X-Prize before this year's end: ScaledComposites and CanadianArrow. I belive Burt Rutan has planned the prize's required second flight for this 13th December, just in time to celebrate one century of flight. Rutan's company seems to be the most advanced competitor (I'd bet real money they win the X-Prize), though the canadian team has that cool prospect of extreme skydiving.
karma police: arrest this man, he talks in maths; he buzzes like a fridge, he's like a detuned radio. [radiohead]
http://rc.explosive.net/rutan
Let me know what you think,
- jason
Yes, if the corks move at hundreds of miles per hour, and are each capable of sinking a ship on collision.
Point is, while individual satellites are small, you cannot simply consider their size. If you were launching another vehicle through its orbit, and expect to cross it at exactly 5:03 pm plus or minus 10 minutes, then what you need to consider is an arc formed by the said satellite moving at high velocity for 20 minutes. Now repeat for each orbit you are likely to cross. A "crowded" orbit simply means that you have increasing difficulty scheduling a safe launch, because the overlapping arcs make your launch window very small. Finally, consider that satellites don't just orbit. Sometimes they fire their boosters to correct decays in their own orbit, each of which would throw off your timing somewhat. Consider also that while you may not care if your payload is destroyed in a collision, the US government might be rather irate if you destroyed a spy satellite of theirs, or bring down the International Space Station.
But mainly, any such accident would be so expensive (mostly in terms of money, but sometimes in terms of human lives) that even if the risk of collision is low, any potential spacefarer must still be very careful. It is certainly worth far more attention (and NASA does track objects and debris in orbit) than corks in the ocean.