Go for it, Burt!

"escape velocity", 25,000 mph, is essentially the instantaneous velocity necessary form sea level to leave Earths gravity. Think muzzle velocity from a gun. Of course if you continue to travel at a slow but steady speed, you will leave Earth behind. But this requires thrust the whole time. Up until now, all of our launch vehicles have been high thrust for a short time, then coast the rest of the time.

Any one remember the original Salvage One movie where the ex-astronaut uses a Ferari to demonstrate how NASA went to the moon, then his concept for a lunar flight.

Orbital velocity, for low earth orbit (shuttle, ISS, MIR, etc, NOT geosynchronous satellites) is 17,000 mph. While a slow low thrust spacecraft may get there, it won't be able to STAY in LEO unless it is travelling at

17000 mph.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Spaceship One reached a maximum speed of about Mach 3 in order to reach 100 km (62 miles) in altitude. It would have had to hit about Mach 25 (close to

18,000 mph) in order to reach orbit. So, they're a long way from being about to go into orbit.

I did, however, hear Burt Rutan say today that building a manned rocket that will reach orbit is a goal for him and his company.

-- Roger

That's the one...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Interesting, I never considered Mission Specialists. The Army Astronaut wings are derived from the Army Aviator wings, they simply have the shooting star device added. Were these wings awarded to these Army Mission Specialists?

As I understand it, they would receive the badge based on the following award criteria:

1. Individuals who meet the criteria for award of the Army Astronaut Device and are not authorized an Aviator, Flight Surgeon or Aviation Badge will be awarded the Aviation Badge in addition to the Army Astronaut Device.

Mario Perdue NAR #22012 Sr. L2 for email drop the planet

"X-ray-Delta-One, this is Mission Control, two-one-five-six, transmission concluded."

This flight did not qualify for the X Prize as it did not carry the requisite three people or equivalent ballast.

Oooh! Nice link. Most intriguing!

I'm sure Scaled Composites would like to be a prime contractor for NASA. I'm sure they would like to be a prime contractor for combat aircraft, such as their Mud Fighter. Having the expertise is one thing, but getting the contract is another. They are well on their way to winning the X Prize, and maybe they can even make a buck selling rides.

If I were selling the rides, the first thing I would do is put in an auto pilot or RP capability to sell the pilot seat for 50% more revinue/flight. In fact, I'd try to sell "astronaut" training and sell the pilot seat at a high price for customers that want to log PIC and earn their spaceflight wings.

Alan

Cement mixer spaceship??

Search for cement!

-- Niall Oswald ========= UKRA 1345 L0 EARS 1151 MARS

"Gravity assisted pieces of the rocket raining from the sky should be avoided. It is also financially undesirable."

-Portland State Aerospace Society

Centrifugal force? IIRC, there is no such thing! Centripetal force is what holds a body in orbit, since it is really trying to go in a straight line and requires a force to keep it accelerating. The magnitude of the velocity doesnt change, but the direction does, hence acceleration must be taking place, requiring a force (F=ma). This force, contrary to common sense (well common sense experience at least) acts towards the centre of the circle, what we feel when going round a corner in a car is our bodies trying to keep going in a straight line.

For centripetal force, F=mv^2/r and orbital distance/speed depend on this being equal to F = GmM/r^2 since gravity supplies the centripetal force.

Given the masses involved and either the distance or velocity, the other unknown can be calculated.

HTH

(A-level Physics exam on Monday, hence been reading about this stuff!)

-- Niall Oswald ========= UKRA 1345 L0 EARS 1151 MARS

"Gravity assisted pieces of the rocket raining from the sky should be avoided. It is also financially undesirable."

-Portland State Aerospace Society

all I can think of is.....

Cluster.

That should get him enough punch to get to orbit!

Yes, to about 5000 ft, on a cluster of 19 (!) AT M1939W's

More worryingly:

The original idea came from watching a Discovery programme about Steve Bennet and fellow Starchaser members using Estes controllers to launch a large, expensive and clustered rocket in Morcambe Bay.... Once the launch pit was moved about 6 feet due to miscalculating the length of the cables!!!!!#

This was shown on TV many times....

-- Niall Oswald ========= UKRA 1345 L0 EARS 1151 MARS

"Gravity assisted pieces of the rocket raining from the sky should be avoided. It is also financially undesirable."

-Portland State Aerospace Society

Geez, that's amazing. Scary, but amazing.

An old saying about small children and drunks comes to mind. I guess it includes rocketeers, too. ;)

I can never hear that story often enough. I laugh my ass off every time.

They're planning to use a pair of bi-prop motors of their own design for the space launch, but from what I gather, the motors will be fixed, as will the fins...very scary! I don't see any sign of guidance development listed on their website:

Your search - site:

guidance - did not match any documents.

This will be one launch I would like to see - preferably from a *safe* distance though!

-- Niall Oswald ========= UKRA 1345 L0 EARS 1151 MARS

"Gravity assisted pieces of the rocket raining from the sky should be avoided. It is also financially undesirable."

-Portland State Aerospace Society

As close to the launch point as possible.

I see... if you don't know _which_ way it'ss going to go, at least it will be going away from you?

-dave w

Tripoli offset distances on the other hand are at the modal impact distance :)

Jerry