SpaceShipOne 2nd Powered Flight

So according to early reports, SpaceShipOne made its second powered
flight reaching Mach 2, only a day after Scaled was granted a
suborbital launch license by the FAA. Although the license allows the
vehicle to travel above 60 miles, this test flight went to 105,000
feet which is about 21 miles, or a third of the way to the X-Prize
goal of 62.5 miles up.

As they gradually move up towards their goal, what further types of
tests will they perform, and what data will they gather? Seems like
everything thusfar has been within the atmosphere, where control
surfaces are still useful. Will the lack of an atmosphere pose further
problems for handling the craft? What about cosmic radiation at this
high and unprotected altitude? Do the pilots have adequate shielding,
or would the exposure be too brief?

Am 8 Apr 2004 17:08:40 -0700 schrieb "sanman":

[...]
surfaces are still useful. Will the lack of an atmosphere pose further
problems for handling the craft? What about cosmic radiation at this
high and unprotected altitude? Do the pilots have adequate shielding,
or would the exposure be too brief?

About radiation hazards you could ask the Habus (SR-71 crews). These
had several hours in that environment on every sortie, and their
planes weren't shielded against cosmic radiation, too. And you could
ask the X-15 pilots the same questions as well.

But because there are not so many of them around (SR-71/X-15 crews),
you could alternatively read their memoirs. But I can say you, that in
/none/ of the memoirs I read radiation hazards were mentioned as a
real threat influencing the operation modes or mission plans.

cu, ZiLi aka HKZL (Heinrich Zinndorf-Linker)
--
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What is the predicted SS1 burn duration for the X-Prize attempt?

"sanman" wrote in message
om...
So according to early reports, SpaceShipOne made its second powered
flight reaching Mach 2, only a day after Scaled was granted a
suborbital launch license by the FAA. Although the license allows the
vehicle to travel above 60 miles, this test flight went to 105,000
feet which is about 21 miles, or a third of the way to the X-Prize
goal of 62.5 miles up.

Question: Does anyone know why Scaled don't post the video footage on their
web-site instead of just the occasional photo??

Even small clips would make interesting viewing, to those of us so far away
we may never see the live-action in our lifetime..

Cameron:-)