A new record...

On 2004-10-04, Rand Simberg wrote:

I just heard from someone who's supposed to know (who
just returned from Mojave) that there are no plans to
fly the original SpaceShipOne again.

Hmmm...Smithsonian bound?

That, or Allen's collection...

--
-Andrew Gray

"Rand Simberg" wrote in message
...
On 4 Oct 2004 08:19:25 -0700, in a place far, far away,
made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such a
way as to indicate that:

4% over isn't bad... now, bets on it being broken before the end of
the
year? Decent chance, I'd guess.


Better than at any time since the mid-1960s! But I wonder if
SS1 will be flown again any time soon after today...

If I were Paul Allen, I'd commission a higher-performance engine, and
try to set some additional altitude records, to make it more
interesting for the future competitors. It would be a pretty low-cost
thing to do, on the margin, and encourage the development of a better
engine (perhaps a liquid this time?).

Perhaps they might want to work on a few things like the roll
problem. I would also suspect there is a list of less-than-optimum
things they would like to fix but didn't have time to do on the
X-Prize schedule.

To me, it would make sense to get as much information out of
Space Ship 1 as they can before they get the new and larger ship
constructed.

Mike Walsh

On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 15:04:10 -0700, in a place far, far away, "Mike
Walsh" made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

If I were Paul Allen, I'd commission a higher-performance engine, and
try to set some additional altitude records, to make it more
interesting for the future competitors. It would be a pretty low-cost
thing to do, on the margin, and encourage the development of a better
engine (perhaps a liquid this time?).

Perhaps they might want to work on a few things like the roll
problem. I would also suspect there is a list of less-than-optimum
things they would like to fix but didn't have time to do on the
X-Prize schedule.

Based on today's flight, they don't seem to have a roll problem...

To me, it would make sense to get as much information out of
Space Ship 1 as they can before they get the new and larger ship
constructed.

I agree. I'm a little surprised that they're retiring it before
getting a lot more experience with it.

On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 15:27:42 GMT, h (Rand
Simberg) wrote:


If I were Paul Allen, I'd commission a higher-performance engine, and
try to set some additional altitude records, to make it more
interesting for the future competitors. It would be a pretty low-cost
thing to do, on the margin, and encourage the development of a better
engine (perhaps a liquid this time?).

I read that today's flight still didn't push SS1 to its limit, even
with the existing engine.

Brian

On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 21:00:02 -0500, in a place far, far away, Brian
Thorn made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

If I were Paul Allen, I'd commission a higher-performance engine, and
try to set some additional altitude records, to make it more
interesting for the future competitors. It would be a pretty low-cost
thing to do, on the margin, and encourage the development of a better
engine (perhaps a liquid this time?).

I read that today's flight still didn't push SS1 to its limit, even
with the existing engine.

Perhaps not, but I'm sure it's starting to approach it.

h (Rand Simberg) wrote in message . ..
On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 15:04:10 -0700, in a place far, far away, "Mike
Walsh" made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

If I were Paul Allen, I'd commission a higher-performance engine, and
try to set some additional altitude records, to make it more
interesting for the future competitors. It would be a pretty low-cost
thing to do, on the margin, and encourage the development of a better
engine (perhaps a liquid this time?).

Perhaps they might want to work on a few things like the roll
problem. I would also suspect there is a list of less-than-optimum
things they would like to fix but didn't have time to do on the
X-Prize schedule.

Based on today's flight, they don't seem to have a roll problem...

To me, it would make sense to get as much information out of
Space Ship 1 as they can before they get the new and larger ship
constructed.

I agree. I'm a little surprised that they're retiring it before
getting a lot more experience with it.

I'd be surprised if they don't do at least one more flight, with Paul
Allen and maybe Burt Rutan as passengers. Come on, if you'd spent $20
million to build a spaceship, wouldn't you want to fly to space in the
darn thing?

In article ,
Rand Simberg wrote:
I'm a little surprised that they're retiring it before
getting a lot more experience with it.

Unlike NASA, Rutan can quit while he's ahead.
--
/\ Greg Kuperberg (UC Davis)
/ \ Home page: http://www.math.ucdavis.edu/~greg/
\ / Visit the Math ArXiv Front at http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/
\/ * All the math that's fit to e-print *

On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 12:56:05 +0000 (UTC), in a place far, far away,
(Greg Kuperberg) made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

I'm a little surprised that they're retiring it before
getting a lot more experience with it.

Unlike NASA, Rutan can quit while he's ahead.

That might make sense, if he were (like you, apparently) a quitter.

"Rand Simberg" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 12:56:05 +0000 (UTC), in a place far, far away,
(Greg Kuperberg) made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

I'm a little surprised that they're retiring it before
getting a lot more experience with it.

Unlike NASA, Rutan can quit while he's ahead.

That might make sense, if he were (like you, apparently) a quitter.

My understanding is Rutan does have a history of "quitting" after he's won.

Voyager I believe has never made another flight after the record setting
one. I believe another poster a few months ago listed several craft that
Rutan built, achieved the particular goal in mind and then never flew again.

Not flying SS1 again (assuming that's what happens) doesn't necessarily mean
quitting.

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 13:22:24 GMT, in a place far, far away, "Greg D.
Moore \(Strider\)" made the phosphor
on my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

I'm a little surprised that they're retiring it before
getting a lot more experience with it.

Unlike NASA, Rutan can quit while he's ahead.

That might make sense, if he were (like you, apparently) a quitter.

My understanding is Rutan does have a history of "quitting" after he's won.

Voyager I believe has never made another flight after the record setting
one. I believe another poster a few months ago listed several craft that
Rutan built, achieved the particular goal in mind and then never flew again.

Not flying SS1 again (assuming that's what happens) doesn't necessarily mean
quitting.

I agree, but apparently, to Greg, it does.