Starchaser sour grapes

I recieved Starchaser's new supports magazine yesterday, and it
contained a very whinny response to Burt winning the X-prize is.

Basically they moan that Scaled had full funding, and that I've they
had been supported by Paul Allen they could havce won the prize last
year.

Also they claim that Burt knew of the prize before it was announced,
and " the X prize foundation change the rules to acomndate the
government contracts his company were working on; the original rules
specified that X Prize teams should not recieve any government derived
funding" which is news to me!

Finally they criticise SS1 for being overcomplicated (calling it a
"ferrari when a VW was all that was needed") and for not having
spacesuits for the pilot a nd no launch escape system. The claim that
their "Thunderstar has more to offer than the competion and will corner
a large percentage of the new and evolving markets"
Sore loosers, methinks?

Andy

(PS: Merry Christmas everyone)

"Andy" wrote in message
oups.com...
I recieved Starchaser's new supports magazine yesterday, and it
contained a very whinny response to Burt winning the X-prize is.

Basically they moan that Scaled had full funding, and that I've they
had been supported by Paul Allen they could havce won the prize last
year.

Also they claim that Burt knew of the prize before it was announced,
and " the X prize foundation change the rules to acomndate the
government contracts his company were working on; the original rules
specified that X Prize teams should not recieve any government derived
funding" which is news to me!

Finally they criticise SS1 for being overcomplicated (calling it a
"ferrari when a VW was all that was needed") and for not having
spacesuits for the pilot a nd no launch escape system. The claim that
their "Thunderstar has more to offer than the competion and will corner
a large percentage of the new and evolving markets"
Sore loosers, methinks?


Yeah, I would like to see them try to get up to 100 clicks without killing
themselves. Anyway, what are they going to do now? Are they continuing with
their Thunderstar? I reckon that most X-Prize projects will shut down
eventually now that Rutan has won.

Yeah, I would like to see them try to get up to 100 clicks without
killing
themselves. Anyway, what are they going to do now? Are they
continuing with
their Thunderstar? I reckon that most X-Prize projects will shut down
eventually now that Rutan has won.

Accoring to the magazine, they are still trying to raise the cash to
build thunderstar, and are builing boilerplate capsules and testing
engines. Also they've started to design a 8-person, VTHL follow-on to
Thunderstar.

My guess is that the amatuer groups will disapear, and the companies
will try to raise cash for tourist vehicles. Since Rutan & co are
working on a 9-passenger follow-on to SS1 (according to hoobyspace),
rivals will have to have a similar payload, or offer different
advantages (quicker turn around, lower fuel costs, etc)

Andy

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 15:00:07 +0100, in a place far, far away, "Henk
Boonsma" made the phosphor on my monitor glow
in such a way as to indicate that:

Yeah, I would like to see them try to get up to 100 clicks without killing
themselves. Anyway, what are they going to do now? Are they continuing with
their Thunderstar? I reckon that most X-Prize projects will shut down
eventually now that Rutan has won.

Some but not all. Many continue to pursue the commercial market, and
the X-Prize Cup will encourage continuing efforts.

"Henk Boonsma" :

"Andy" wrote in message
oups.com...
I recieved Starchaser's new supports magazine yesterday, and it
contained a very whinny response to Burt winning the X-prize is.

Basically they moan that Scaled had full funding, and that I've they
had been supported by Paul Allen they could havce won the prize last
year.

Also they claim that Burt knew of the prize before it was announced,
and " the X prize foundation change the rules to acomndate the
government contracts his company were working on; the original rules
specified that X Prize teams should not recieve any government derived
funding" which is news to me!

Finally they criticise SS1 for being overcomplicated (calling it a
"ferrari when a VW was all that was needed") and for not having
spacesuits for the pilot a nd no launch escape system. The claim that
their "Thunderstar has more to offer than the competion and will corner
a large percentage of the new and evolving markets"
Sore loosers, methinks?


Yeah, I would like to see them try to get up to 100 clicks without killing
themselves. Anyway, what are they going to do now? Are they continuing with
their Thunderstar? I reckon that most X-Prize projects will shut down
eventually now that Rutan has won.

On the otherhand ERPS, Armadillo Aerospace and other still plan to continue,
so winning the X-prize has not killed the long term goals of some people.

Earl Colby Pottinger

--
I make public email sent to me! Hydrogen Peroxide Rockets, OpenBeos,
SerialTransfer 3.0, RAMDISK, BoatBuilding, DIY TabletPC. What happened to
the time? http://webhome.idirect.com/~earlcp

"Andy" wrote in message
oups.com...
I recieved Starchaser's new supports magazine yesterday, and it
contained a very whinny response to Burt winning the X-prize is.

Basically they moan that Scaled had full funding, and that I've they
had been supported by Paul Allen they could havce won the prize last
year.

Also they claim that Burt knew of the prize before it was announced,
and " the X prize foundation change the rules to acomndate the
government contracts his company were working on; the original rules
specified that X Prize teams should not recieve any government derived
funding" which is news to me!

I don't recall that ever being the criteria.


Finally they criticise SS1 for being overcomplicated (calling it a
"ferrari when a VW was all that was needed") and for not having
spacesuits for the pilot a nd no launch escape system.

Wait, let me get this straight.

It was overcomplicated, but it lacked stuff. Hmm. Right.

The claim that
their "Thunderstar has more to offer than the competion and will corner
a large percentage of the new and evolving markets"

All the more power to them. Let's see who's right.

Sore loosers, methinks?

Andy

(PS: Merry Christmas everyone)

No plans exist to shut down Thunderstar, as far as I know. Launch Escape
system and Churchill Mk 3 engines are every much in active development.
Michael Martin-Smith
"Earl Colby Pottinger" wrote in message
...
"Henk Boonsma" :

"Andy" wrote in message
oups.com...
I recieved Starchaser's new supports magazine yesterday, and it
contained a very whinny response to Burt winning the X-prize is.

Basically they moan that Scaled had full funding, and that I've they
had been supported by Paul Allen they could havce won the prize last
year.

Also they claim that Burt knew of the prize before it was announced,
and " the X prize foundation change the rules to acomndate the
government contracts his company were working on; the original rules
specified that X Prize teams should not recieve any government derived
funding" which is news to me!

Finally they criticise SS1 for being overcomplicated (calling it a
"ferrari when a VW was all that was needed") and for not having
spacesuits for the pilot a nd no launch escape system. The claim that
their "Thunderstar has more to offer than the competion and will
corner
a large percentage of the new and evolving markets"
Sore loosers, methinks?


Yeah, I would like to see them try to get up to 100 clicks without
killing
themselves. Anyway, what are they going to do now? Are they continuing
with
their Thunderstar? I reckon that most X-Prize projects will shut down
eventually now that Rutan has won.

On the otherhand ERPS, Armadillo Aerospace and other still plan to
continue,
so winning the X-prize has not killed the long term goals of some people.

Earl Colby Pottinger

--
I make public email sent to me! Hydrogen Peroxide Rockets, OpenBeos,
SerialTransfer 3.0, RAMDISK, BoatBuilding, DIY TabletPC. What happened to
the time? http://webhome.idirect.com/~earlcp

Michael Martin-Smith wrote:
No plans exist to shut down Thunderstar, as far as I know. Launch Escape
system and Churchill Mk 3 engines are every much in active development.
Michael Martin-Smith


It would be rather odd if they didn't continue - the markets they
were going to go after haven't dissapeared or anything, so why bail
out?

--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++