Anyone in this group notice Space Ship One?

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Ah, that's one function of this group! ......but so is the BS :) mk

Yes I took notice......I think NASA is "sweating" :-) As far as modeling a combo......it would be coool...You could use a rocket motor to power Space Ship One. I have seen rocket powered R/C planes.

Mike

I've been following its progress for some time. Interesting to say the least. However I doubt it will kick start private space flight like many are expecting. I just don't think the general population has the desire to support it like they did in the 60's. Too bad!

Though I myself wouldn't care to model it I'm sure it would be quite the interesting challenge for someone. I would wait until I heard what was causing the control problems the other day and how they resolve them.

As to the response from this group, I'm not surprised. Did you also notice not a word was mentioned about the death of a former president? The dynamics of this group have certainly changed over the years. To put it politely, seems to have more and more jerks. Those who simply want to denigrate and make fun of others. I guess it's the price we pay for no moderation. Oh well!

Chuck

My two cents:

Cent 1. 98% of the posts relate to R/C, isn't this what the forum is for?

Cent 2. 2% free market comments, like yours. Not a bad thing.

Tom

Do a search on RCU...A guy is building the White Knight/SS1 combo

I agree it is however, sentiments at times of sorrow have often been expressed here. I submit the many comments posted when Princess Di passed away.

The free market is the only way to go!!!

To be honest, I don't know much about it. The news articles I've read gloss over the details that carry the meat of the topic. From what I've interpreted, this is basically a very high altitude craft that cannot maintain orbit nor survive reentry friction if it did have enough speed. How long does it cruise at altitude? A few minutes?

I expect some type of practical travel application to be announced, but it's only been touted as a space tourism vehicle.

Frankly, I don't see what the big deal is. Rutan strapped a rubbery fuel compound craft onto his trademark composite planes. It might be a big step, but in what direction I cannot say.

Now if the FAA adpots a 51% rule on space travel, Rutan can draw up some blueprints and start selling them. :) Seriously, I applaud the achievement, but at the same time it is so specialized as to leave doubts of the practical applications. We already know how to get someone in orbit. We already know how to fly people around at 30k feet. This is achieving something inbetween with no clear distinction on why it's better.

Let us look at what you are ignoring for a moment. The attempt is a shot a the $10 million "X prize". The expected investment is approaching $20 million. However, the purpose is to open 'space' to the general public which occured when SS1 made 62+ miles. The prize reqirements are for it to carry 3 and to the same flight twice in a 2 week period.

Now what is not obvious here. First, it is PRIVATELY funded which means no taxpayer $ go into it. Secondly it opens the door to entire technologies that have not been used before or prefected. Thirdly, the vehicle was never intended to make orbit, but was intended to show the ease of cyclic operations (which NASA seems to have failed to do lately) which is a function of the X prize.

Perhaps the most important single thing he demonstrated was that it simply could be done by civilians using off the shelf technology. It was obviously not designed to put people into LEO, rather it's design proves that sub orbital hops are actually quite easy to do. Let's say you're Bill Gates and you want to get to Moscow *really* quickly. So you blow about an hour getting to altitude, then hit the rocket power. Skip across the outer atmosphere, and land a few minutes later in Moscow. Wow.

TomC

BobAndVickey wrote:

And you should have seen the rocket powered X1 that Mac Hodges' B29 drops hit the ground under power at SEFF this Sunday. They went out with a dustpan and broom...

PCPhill

You mean Dan Stevens made a boo-boo? :) Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

Ouch. That was a beautiful bird.

--- Rich

Not very different from Alan Shepard's first flight.

--- Rich

Well.... unless you consider the "computer tax" that most of us have paid to Microsoft :) Avoiding sending money to MS isn't much easier than avoiding Federal and State taxes.

Ya... I'm with you 1000%. This is a great accomplishment.

--- Rich

I watched it take off saturday morning but couldnt wait around to see it land due to a prior commitment and the fact that the news channels quit running the story, at least while I was sitting there waiting. They did announce on KFWB when it landed, however. I wish I could have gone out to see it in person... This thread will probably turn into the next round of anti this or that rants, you realize...

I was there. It was awesome!

-- Gene Seibel Space Ship One -

I fly, I envy no one - except Mike Melvill.

I caught the replays on Tech TV. I think it is an awesome accomplishment!!! What I think most people fail to realize it that SS1 was able to reenter the atmosphere without a heat shield or some sort of thermal dissipation system. The "feather" feature for reentry of SS1 is pure genius. If the control problems can be worked out, we may be on our way to an operational space plane without the beaurocracy of NASA taking 40 years to develop some overdesigned system bound for failure.

As far as modeling the system, it WAS written up in the OCT 2003 issue of RCM. It would make an interesting subject for someone. I just wouldn't care to do it. At least not now.

Jim W

An operational space plan is not a space shuttle. The feathering system works only because of the relatively low speed, translating to a significantly reduced thermal load on reentry.

The same design applied to a craft reentering at a true orbital speed would tear the wing off.

--- Rich

Here's a slide show with some great photos of the operation --

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