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#1 |
Radical Centrist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Cottage of Prussia
Posts: 31,423
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4/22/2003: Private space vehicle designed
![]() Voila, the SpaceShipOne, or SS1 for short. It looks small, but it carries three people. ![]() And there's the whole load of what will be needed to shoot that bugger into space, including the White Knight (WK), the catamaran-looking plane behind the SS1, and some humans to show you the scale of it all. This is all designed by famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan. A lot more photos here of the whole thing. (Warning, those photos are HUGE.) The concept is that the plane carries the SS1 as high as they'll go, 50,000 feet, and then the SS1 will separate and ignite the big-ass rocket to carry itself up to 62.5 miles. That's high enough so you're in space. You don't spend much time there before heading back down; the whole trip is supposed to be only 30 minutes. You don't enter orbit - you just get way way up there. If it works, it'll be the first private vehicle to make space and will collect a private $10M prize. (I ain't going anywhere in that thing myself. It looks too much like a toy.) Hat tip to 'spode again for pointing to it. full story here. |
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#2 | |
Hoodoo Guru
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 301
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Re: 4/22/2003: Private space vehicle designed
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#3 | |
still says videotape
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 26,813
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Re: Re: 4/22/2003: Private space vehicle designed
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If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis |
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#4 |
When Do I Get Virtual Unreality?
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Raytown, Missouri
Posts: 12,719
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Don't forget Rutan's Voyager, which carried his brother Dick and his then-S.O. around the world, nonstop and unrefueled.
Burt is a bright boy, I'd climb in anything he designed without hesitation and ride it for all it is worth.
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"To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog |
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#5 |
Hand-of-Kindness Extender
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: So Cal
Posts: 137
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What's that thing on the trailer in the left front of the "family" photo?
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#6 |
When Do I Get Virtual Unreality?
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Raytown, Missouri
Posts: 12,719
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The nitrous oxide/tire rubber fueled engine, I believe.
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"To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog |
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#7 |
He who reads, sometimes writes.
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: at the keyboard
Posts: 791
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Looks like a GulfStream to me. That's where Rutan keeps the in-laws.
I like those ads -- "GoRVing." "What the hell is gorving?" heheh. |
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#8 | |
The future is unwritten
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
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Quote:
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The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. |
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#9 |
Hand-of-Kindness Extender
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: So Cal
Posts: 137
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I think that thing - the Airstream - is the fueling tank, maybe...?
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#10 | |
The future is unwritten
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
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Quote:
Gorving, on a sunday afternoon.
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The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. |
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#11 |
Romantic Necromancer
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 29
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Why do I want to call this thing the "RocketCow"?
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#12 |
Ignorance is bliss and I'm orgasmic
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: perth, australia
Posts: 296
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I wonder what Burt's aim is here. It can't be all about a lousy 10 million. He's not really achieving space travel, pictures can be had from a number of web sites and the shuttle is too small to allow a true appreciation of weightlessness. Where does the 62.5 mile high trajectory figure come from. I wish he would collaborate with Moller and give us the practical, affordable flying cars science fiction has promised us for decades.
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#13 |
When Do I Get Virtual Unreality?
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Raytown, Missouri
Posts: 12,719
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Suborbital is a reasonable baby step to full orbital, private, reusable vehicle spaceflight, I think. Plus, it is likely to be the thrill ride of the next decade if all goes well. Burt *will* make money, over and above the $10 Million prize being offered.
Sometimes, people just do it because it is interesting to see if it can be done. Sometimes, they do it for that AND money. ![]()
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"To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog |
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#14 |
Ignorance is bliss and I'm orgasmic
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: perth, australia
Posts: 296
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Why not give the 10 million to the NASA r&d dept. Surely they're way ahead of the competition. Let them come up with a design, drawing on their vast experience of what does and doesn't work, then sell it to privateers along with exclusivity rights. If all he wants is a view he can go to Russia and buy one.
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#15 |
When Do I Get Virtual Unreality?
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Raytown, Missouri
Posts: 12,719
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NASA would chew up $10 million in ink and paper costs alone for such a project. Besides, the prize is specifically designed to stimulate *private* space access. Some people feel that the government shouldn't have sole control of space, and I tend to agree.
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"To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog |
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