MILESTONE: Rutan Team Delivers Private Spacecraft!

drewpropsdrewprops
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Burt Rutan is to aviation what Bob Ballard is to oceanographic research, a true pioneer. If this works then it will be an amazing coupe for a private venture to have figured out how to get to space with just a souped-up aircraft.



Wow.



http://www.msnbc.com/news/902224.asp?0ql=c9p
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 59
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    Neat.
  • Reply 2 of 59
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    I want one....



    ...no, two.



    8)
  • Reply 3 of 59
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member




    nice nice !!



  • Reply 4 of 59
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member
    " how to get to space with just a souped-up aircraft. "



    Wow.



    http://www.msnbc.com/news/902224.asp?0ql=c9p [/B][/QUOTE]



    One word comes to mind : Bollocks !

    If this is true, then judging by the looks of the craft, the entire manual on avionics would have to be re-written.

    Look at that nose section for pete's sake.

    Windows in the nose cone...Oh Puh--Leese!!!!!!!!!!

    On the other hand there was a space bird called X-15, which I am sure you know about, but for the other members, will briefly describe>

    Built & designed way back in the 1950's X-15 led the way that NASA was going to go, before Kennedy go hooked into the cold-war race to the Moon.

    As a vehicle it had "ablative paint" instead of thermal tiles, and apart from one death, they never suffered any major space related break up during their many years of space flight & re-entry.

    Pound for Pound, ounce for ounce, the X-15 program delivered more cutting edge space technology and imformation than any other program & it ultimately paved the way for the " Shuttle "

    And to think that all the ground crew had to do was gas her up and patch up the ablative ( heat resistant ) paint work.

    Way to go !

    See link

    http://www.nasm/edu/nasm/aero/aircraft/NAX-15.htm



  • Reply 5 of 59
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member


    Apologies

    Link is corrected here:

    http://www.nasm.edu/nasm/aero/aircraft/NAX-15.htm

    Cheers
  • Reply 6 of 59
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    IIRC, Neil Armstrong was an X-15 test pilot.
  • Reply 7 of 59
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    IIRC, Neil Armstrong was an X-15 test pilot.



    Absolutely !

    I say bring back the X-15, unhook the one in the Smithsonian, fuel her up and lets go for a joy flight......Way to go
  • Reply 8 of 59
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    As soon as I saw that I thought, whoa, so I actually read it. Mebbe windows in the nose aren't a problem for the re-entry craft because it is meant to spiral down relatively slowly as opposed to drop like a stone the way the current shuttle does. The big tail fins are supposed to create enough drag to slow the re-entry to 150 knots. If works, mebbe heat isn't an issue.
  • Reply 9 of 59
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Matsu

    As soon as I saw that I thought, whoa, so I actually read it. Mebbe windows in the nose aren't a problem for the re-entry craft because it is meant to spiral down relatively slowly as opposed to drop like a stone the way the current shuttle does. The big tail fins are supposed to create enough drag to slow the re-entry to 150 knots. If works, mebbe heat isn't an issue.



    The speed & drag thing are really " Biggy ' issues that can't be got around with some nifty tails.

    depending of your definition oof " sapce travel " you will need a craft that is able to overcome gravitational " pull ".

    That means travelling at 17,000 MPH.

    Which is approx 24 X times the speed of sound.

    I doubt if that aircraft would even break the sound barrier !

    Mind you, you could float into the upper reaches of the mesosphere 55 miles + above the surface if your were an electrically charged ion..but that fancy bucket looks a wee bit bigger than an atom.
  • Reply 10 of 59
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Hey, whadda I know?



    Does gravitational pull lessen at higher altitudes or is it an all or nothing phenomenon?



    This could be the point of two stages, a lift vehicle and then a Space vehicle that may or may not require slightly less thrust to reach the outer atmosphere once it's been lifted over 35000 feet.



    Oh and about the windows: it seems from the pics that while the windows are in the nose the nose wouldn't be pointed at the earth during re-entry.



    It's at least an interesting idea.
  • Reply 11 of 59
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Matsu, no. AFAIK, even as high as the shuttle orbiters go, gravity is still pretty close to 9.8 m/s^2. The effect of weightlessness is achieved by constantly falling around the earth, not by escaping its pull.
  • Reply 12 of 59
    drewpropsdrewprops Posts: 2,321member
    It's going to hit a low orbit~



    Hope this hits the media in a MAJOR way!

    Time for some public excitement about the space program...
  • Reply 13 of 59
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member
    Actually,

    I think its going to be used to break the world record for the " Lowest earth Orbit " I fugure a little bit higher than I can fire my my slingshot.



    Read "Red, Blue & Green Mars..

    There the writer envisages an elevator chained to a martian moon, like a super long ladder that decends to the martian surface.



  • Reply 14 of 59
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    piggyback to orbit will also remove a lot of the risk from spaceflight.



    no more sitting on top of stacked explosive propellant, less toxic fumes too



    and if you're wondering about the materials, visit scaled.com

    high performance carbon fibre-composites are their specialty



    X prize may have a winner with this one

    (shame about roton, but it'll resurface)



    ad luna, ad ares, ad astra
  • Reply 15 of 59
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    that's a view of the cockpit from the Space Ship One. (while its introduction, spiraling down)



    http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...pit%20view.jpg



    http://www.scaled.com/
  • Reply 16 of 59
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Just FYI, the long-winged carrier doesn't go into space. It carries a lauch vehicle that goes into space. I sensed some confusion from aquafire.



    X-15. Too cool. It was the plane that got me into aerspace. I wanted to be an aerospace engineer for a long time. . . until, that is, I became an EE. It had 1 million horsepower. That's always cool. No such thing as too much power.
  • Reply 17 of 59
    drewpropsdrewprops Posts: 2,321member
    While this plane is fascinating, the high frontier currently remains the domain of the traditional rocket. And in a race? How fast does it take the shuttle to reach 50 miles? Three minutes or so?



    By the by, Robinson wasn't the first to envision the space elevator. People like Larry Niven and other so-called "hard" SF writers have been discussing the idea before the RGB Mars series. (fun series btw)....Robinson does a splendid job making the book interesting...and just imagine, the Arab state in space! Good old Earthlings, we go everywhere!



    The shuttlecock descent of the space plane makes me dizzy to think about. Anyway, I imagine the world would be watching if the company decides to make the test public....
  • Reply 18 of 59
    enaena Posts: 667member
    Fire NASA.



    Still flying 30-40 year old technology/ideas.



    If anybody can pull it off it's the Rutans.
  • Reply 19 of 59
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    Sir Richard Branson licenses Rutan's SpaceShipOne technology for Space Tourism.



    Coming soon... Virgin Galactic



    2 days until X-Prize Flight #1.



    And the next challenge prize has already been announced $50Million for Private Orbital Craft
  • Reply 20 of 59
    thttht Posts: 5,444member
    Best of luck to Rutan. He's very very good.



    But you guys have to keep in mind that Spaceship 1 is a Mach 3 airplane, not a spacecraft. I hope he can eventually get to Mach 25 and reach orbit within another 10 years.
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