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FAA Grants Sub-Orbital License to SpaceShipOne
abucior writes "The FAA announced today that Scaled Composites has been granted a launch licence for a series of sub-orbital flights over a one-year period for Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne. Is X Prize finally entering the end-game? Space.com has more information on the move."
what happens if i were to build a big rocket and launch myself into space without telling anyone? would i get shot down by the military when they pick me up on radar?
Interesting difference in dates:
Press Release
Contact: Henry J. Price
Date Posted: April 7, 2004
But further down:
The license was issued April 1 by the
Federal Aviation Administration's
Office of Commercial Space
Transportation to Scaled Composites of
Mojave, Calif., headed by aviation
record-holder Burt Rutan, for a
sequence of sub-orbital flights
spanning a one-year period.
As fun as it is to slam "the government", somebody was very much on the ball to realize that it would be a bad idea to release this news on April Fool's Day!
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
> what happens if i were to build a big rocket and launch myself into space without telling anyone? would i get shot down by the military when they pick me up on radar?
.
Yes. Having worked with a (unmanned) launch services firm, getting permission can be the most difficult part of the process. Building the rocket and payload is just rocket science. Getting permission is *legal-stuff*
Six years ago, we had estimated that launching a satellite required permits, lawyers and insurance in excess of twice the cost of the launch vehicle. The gov't is truly being kind to Mr. Rutan.
#include "humorous_pop_culture_reference.h"
Available for free at http://netassetsbook.com/. I'd suggest the PDF version (1 MB), since some of the formatting in the HTML version is screwed up, and makes reading some parts difficult (mainly forgetting
This is how space will become cheap.. Check this out, boys, creative engineering at work:_ Index/p hotos/images/800/wind_tunnel_800.jpg
http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/New
We are at the beginning of a new revolution. Space travel for the average person is now within reason. Sadly I will never have the opportunity to travel to a distant planet but I may get to experience space travel :)
The thing is that Lloyds is actually a marketplace of "syndicates", not exactly a monolithic institution (at least, this is how he explained it to me). So you have to have a broker who really knows Lloyd's to figure out who the right people to approach are. And as far as I can tell, they may like taking fairly crazy sounding but actually low risk bets on actresses thighs or singer's voices, but they don't like taking higher stake bets on businesses that are hard to assess or known to be risky.
Since there's no FAA up here, I wonder what licenses the Canadian entries will have to get.. if any! Considering our government hasn't launched its own rocket into space... Do they go to the CSA? Transport Canada? Do Canadian Content Laws apply in space? ;-)
Cool, private citizens might get into space before their government does!
"Consider the long step between the Wright Flyer and the Ford Tri-Motor or the DC-3. That's how far the X-prize vehicles are from useful and cheap space transports."
That's what excites me. Look at how cheap and safe air travel is now. Wright brother's flight was in 1903, right? In less than 20 years you had airplanes EVERYWHERE. In less than 40 years there were jets. (July '42 for the first real jet fighter, yes yes I know there were actually jet engines in the 30's but come on).
Today, 100 years later, I can buy an airplane ticket for a couple day's worth of barely-better-than minimum wage barely-part-time college work.
If this is like the Wright brother's flight, then we're in for one hell of a century, and it's gonna be a good one.
replacing it with NEW Folger's Crystals! (lets see if they notice the difference)
There are. There was a recent slashdot story about the da vinci group. They are about to announce thier launch date and are in the final stages of approval from Transport Canada. The launch site is only a couple of hundred miles from where I grew up (very close in Canadian terms).
Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.
The key legal principle is that licenses are only needed if you're doing something that's otherwise illegal. Launching rockets into space isn't illegal, so a license is quite unnecessary. In countries with restricted freedoms (eg. US of A) the opposite might be true, however.. haven't looked into that one.
:)
Good luck to Rutan with getting into orbit
you would think that the guy (burt rutan) who has devoted his life to novel aeronautic designs that challenge notions of what can be done regarding flight would be "more deserving" to win a space race than a guy who has programmed 3D graphics engines for just over a decade...
-
soo.
what is us airspace? How far up? radial or linear spokes?
Yeah, you're exactly right. Cessna almost went out of business because of law suits and if you see a Cessna today chances are probably 9 out of 10 that its a 152 or 172 that is decades old.
And it is truely a god-damned shame. The fact that all these aircraft are around today and flying after 50 years ought to say something. I mean, you don't see a lot of Ford Pintos on the road anymore, do you? It amazes me how long something can last when it is designed correctly and cared for by professionals. Look at the fleet of B-52s... Anyway, now you can't pick up a new single engine Cessna for less than 158K
I know a jeweler who has his hands insured (you have to have good dexterity to make jewelry)
Anyway, now you can't pick up a new single engine Cessna for less than 158K
And you can still pick up a decent used, older single-engine plane that has decades more life left in it for under $30K. A brand new GMC pickup truck costs more than I paid for my Piper Cherokee. Why people shell out over an eighth of a million dollars for a new C172, I don't understand. If I had ~$160K to spend on an airplane, I'd much rather buy an older, bigger, plane like a T210 or perhaps even a Skymaster 337 inline twin in that price range.
Actually, according to this week's Aviation Weke, Burt is lobbying the FAA to allow him to carry passengers. There would be a list of disclaimers a mile long, but if the passengers sign a waiver that "Yes, I fully expect this rocket to blow up and kill me", they'd be allowed to fly.
Apparently the FAA is looking favorably on this proposal, as a way to stimulate private space travel. It's amazing to see government working for innovation, for a change.
Burt Rutan, in some ways, has the same kind of reality distortion field that Steve Jobs is legendary for. The thing is, it's not a joke -- reality is different after these guys get done.
Thad
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
You actually believe that governments will simly 'get out of the way' of anything just because it's the right thing to do? When was the last time any government failed to attempt to grasp somthing just because it was beyond their competency to to anything with it? Governments exist to perpetuate themselves and are terrified by the idea of people being able to slip comletely beond their reach.
I do believe that ulitimatley space will belong to those who go there, but no government will let them go without a fight.
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
Historically, much of the United States' expansion was preceded by individuals homesteading land before the government had legal sovereignty of that land.
Look at the history of the westward expansion of the US, especially the way in which the Texas became a state (the land was first "colonized" by US-friendly ranchers against Mexican sovereignty), and also the annexing of Hawaii (preceded by American sugar and pineapple interests in the kingdom).
The fact is that governments will happily allow their citizens to go out and be productive elsewhere, and then step in to rule over (and tax!) the new enterprise.
The place this will really get tricky is concern over terrorism. Look at the damage done by a few pathetic subsonic jets that were hijacked, loafing along at several hundred knots.
Now imagine the damage that can be done by a suborbital (or orbital!) craft flying into a nuclear power plant.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
so my question now is... who owns this technology?
Jeremy Logan's Website.