Canadian Arrow Completes Drop Test

hpulley writes "The Canadian press is reporting that X-Prize entrant the Canadian Arrow made its first successful crew compartment drop test on Saturday. It is essentially a modern version of the German V2 rocket. This test was just a drop of the crew compartment to test the parachutes. Next comes a launch abort test to see if the crew can be safely sent away from the vehicle. No word yet on when they might launch the consecutive flights in two-week turnaround for the prize. Fellow Canadian entrant the da Vinci Project will try to launch October 2nd. In the fall, venerable model company Estes Rockets will have a new model of the Canadian Arrow along with models of other entrants like the Rubicon." Oddly enough, I saw the crew compartment being driven around in Toronto on Saturday morning (towed behind a white pickup truck), but I didn't know what they were up to.

Comments

Tintin?

[Peden]

Incredible how much that arrow looks like a smaller scale model of the rocket used in the comicbook about Tintin from the French cartoonist Hergé.

Re:Tintin?

[mangu]

As Hercule Poirot would say, Hergé was a Belgian.

Any of these guys German?

[aelbric]

It is essentially a modern version of the German V2 rocket.

Looks like London may not be safe yet. Someone call Tony Blair!

By the way, I have German ancestry (first generation American). Don't get all riled up.

Re:Enlighten me...

[aelbric]

IMHO, I believe it's a combination of trying to get a jump in the emerging market of private space travel, trying to get one's name in the history books, and (hopefully) a great deal of the explorer spirit that appeals to more thoughtful people. This will need to be done, why not do it now while there's a little extra incentive?

It's named after the legendary Avro Arrow

[Viking5150]

The Canadian Arrow was named after the Avro Arrow, a revolutionary jet interceptor built in Canada in the 1950s during the height of the cold war. It was years ahead of any other jet interceptor design at the time.

"A source of national pride, the Arrow incorporated advanced technical innovations and became a symbol of Canadian excellence.

One of the finest achievements in Canadian aviation history, the delta wing Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was never allowed to fulfill its mission. The Arrow weapons platform along with the Iroquois engine was cancelled by the Conservative Diefenbaker government February 20, 1959, less then 3 weeks before the MK2 Arrow was to take flight."

http://www.avroarrow.org/

Re:It's named after the legendary Avro Arrow

[stendec]

Lies, lies, all lies! The Avro Arrow was rightly the advanced technomiracle it is popularly known to have been. Here's a brief -- brief -- list of some of its features:

First production aeroplane to sustain Mach 3 without afterburners.

Could fly in space.

Had a Hoser Flight Operator Detector to ensure it was not being flown by the enemy.

Could compose iambic verse in flight.

Was used by the University of Toronto's physics department to empirically test both Einstein's Special and General Theories of Relativity.

Could ratiocinate its own funding to the body politic.

Re:It's named after the legendary Avro Arrow

[Ubergrendle]

I won't comment specifically on the engineering aspects -- I've seen strong arguments in favour of it being both great and overrated. I'm unqualified to offer an opinion.

However, I'd argue that ultimately what killed this project was the invention of the ICBM. In the early 1950s the concepts pertaining to nuclear defense were interceptor based: chase down the bombers and destroy them before they could nuke your cities. The Arrow was intended to become a pre-emminent interceptor for its age.

What happened? US and NATO strategy changed. There was no chance of intercepting an ICBM w/ multiple warheads, and thus funding priorities changed. By the early 1960s it was obvious that an interceptor based strategy was no longer relevant. Fighters were being designed as air superiority fighters, tactical bombers, or all-weather craft. No customers = limited market for the Arrow. It was also way over budget (although close to completion of the Mk II) and thus the Diefenbaker government killed it.

I will agree that there's alot of myth and rumour about beligerent and nasty destruction of the program. Most of these are not founded in fact, and are tied to the managers of the Avro Arrow program and not politically motivated.

/$0.02 as couch military historian

Woot for canada

[g-to-the-o-to-the-g]

Seeing as I haven't heard much news on any non-Canadian teams other then spaceshipone, this is awesome for Canada. We're going to be the first to make an official launch, and we now possibly have a second on the go. As things get closer to October (Canadian team launches on the 2nd, Americans on the 4th) this whole X-Prize thing is starting to get really interesting. Its pretty hard to predict how things will turn out right now, but it's definitely going to get very exciting.

On another note, I only live about 4 hours from where the first Canadian team is launching, so I'm going to get to experience that.

I was there and have pix...

[jqs]

My wife and I got up early, biked down to the islands and took the ferry over. We had a perfect vantage point as the crew compartment came down approximately a kilometre from us offshore. We were even closer to it than the emergency crews that were on hand in case it landed on the island (and you didn't see the slow moving object on parachutes coming at you...).

O.o;

[Eudial]

A manned cruise missile.

Well, there ought to be a first time for everything.

Re:Enlighten me...

[bwy]

The goal of someone like Scaled Composites, IMHO, isn't to win the X-Prize but to develop a private space program concept that can potentially be sold to someone like Virgin who would start offering suborbital tourism flights.

So, they've spent around $20 million US, and $10 mil is indeed half. If any company developing a new product could stand to get 1/2 of all of their expenses back by winning a contest, wouldn't that be icing on the cake?

In fact, note that the rules of the X-Prize (2 flights, 3 passengers, etc) are meant to be things that would encourage a company to actually do something important with their technology AFTER winning the X-Prize. So it is an interesting setup. While the X-Prize isn't the sole driving force, it has definately been a "shot in the ass" to keep teams working hard. I think the expiration date on the X-Prize was an absolutely great idea too- because it is working! Just look how many teams are making a final drive right now. As long as nobody dies- and I tell you these da Vinci guys, if they are serious, scare the bejesus out of me.

Re:Space Ship One - Competition

[mykepredko]

I think it's important to understand that there are several "competitors", but only one real contender...

Something similar would have been said in 1927 with the Ortig prize. The actual winner was essentially completely discounted; Lindberg (sp?) was considered to be underfunded, minimal experience, using an aircraft that had only been tested once (on a transcontinental flight) and only had one engine and one pilot to boot!

Maybe one of these groups with "garage technology" will have the right stuff.

myke