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Spaceship One lands
I'm probably not going to be the first to post this, but SS1 just landed
after successfully reaching 62 miles altitude! |
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"Doug..." wrote in message
... In article , says... I'm probably not going to be the first to post this, but SS1 just landed after successfully reaching 62 miles altitude! Actually, you were the first, Rick! I guess there were a couple of problems -- the engine cut out a bit early, though it imparted enough delta-V to push the craft up over 100 km. There were also "a couple of bangs" at some point, and the aft motor fairing seems ot have buckled slightly. Those are more issues for the two-week turnaround portion of the X-Prize requirements, I would think. I dunno how long it's going to take them to scope out what the engine-out problem was, or why they had a slight fairing buckle. But it shows why this was NOT an X-Prize flight -- when flying a new vehicle in a new flight profile for the first time, you can never be totally sure what kinds of things will come up. Now they'll be able to tackle the first of the two X-Prize flights with a little more knowledge and capability of turning the vehicle around in the proscribed two-week timeframe. Doug Could the buckling have been the source of the bangs? This is going to be a very long 168 hour fortnight, not just for the people at Scaled, but for thousands of people around the world. -- Alan Erskine We can get people to the Moon in five years, not the fifteen GWB proposes. Give NASA a real challenge |
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In article ,
says... snip Could the buckling have been the source of the bangs? That's what Melvill seemed to think when he was making a few remarks on the runway after landing. But I'm sure there will be a very thorough review of the data before they can say for certain. After all, the buckling could have been the *result* of whatever caused the bangs, not the cause itself. This is going to be a very long 168 hour fortnight, not just for the people at Scaled, but for thousands of people around the world. Yep! Doug |
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"Doug..." wrote in message
... In article , says... snip Could the buckling have been the source of the bangs? That's what Melvill seemed to think when he was making a few remarks on the runway after landing. But I'm sure there will be a very thorough review of the data before they can say for certain. After all, the buckling could have been the *result* of whatever caused the bangs, not the cause itself. It's unlikely that the buckling was caused by any kind of 'rapid expansion' (explosion) event - that would surely have left holes, not buckling. It might have been the change in temperature or the differential between internal temps (near the engine, after all) and external temps. -- Alan Erskine We can get people to the Moon in five years, not the fifteen GWB proposes. Give NASA a real challenge |
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Alan Erskine wrote: not the cause itself. It's unlikely that the buckling was caused by any kind of 'rapid expansion' (explosion) event - that would surely have left holes, not buckling. It might have been the change in temperature or the differential between internal temps (near the engine, after all) and external temps. They just showed it on television; it's a pretty good-sized dent just ahead of the rocket nozzle. Watching today's flight, I realized why the White Knight/Spaceship One combo looked so familiar Once again, those W.W. II German secret weapons boys got there first: http://www.luft46.com/db/dbbomba.html "MEIN FUHRER! I CAN VALK!" :-) Pat |
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Pat Flannery wrote: Once again, those W.W. II German secret weapons boys got there first: http://www.luft46.com/db/dbbomba.html Actually, this one is even closer to the design: http://www.luft46.com/db/dbbombb.html Pat |
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"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
... Pat Flannery wrote: Once again, those W.W. II German secret weapons boys got there first: http://www.luft46.com/db/dbbomba.html Actually, this one is even closer to the design: http://www.luft46.com/db/dbbombb.html Pat Always reminds me of the Buck Rogers ship from the old B&W ("Black and White" and "Buck and Wilma") serial. -- Alan Erskine We can get people to the Moon in five years, not the fifteen GWB proposes. Give NASA a real challenge |
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On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 11:16:42 -0400, Rick DeNatale
wrote: I'm probably not going to be the first to post this, but SS1 just landed after successfully reaching 62 miles altitude! Little though I want to contradict you, when last I checked the story the altitude still wasn't confirmed. That was fairly late today. Cool, isn't it? Mary -- Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer |
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On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 18:18:07 -0700, Mary Shafer wrote:
On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 11:16:42 -0400, Rick DeNatale wrote: I'm probably not going to be the first to post this, but SS1 just landed after successfully reaching 62 miles altitude! Little though I want to contradict you, when last I checked the story the altitude still wasn't confirmed. That was fairly late today. Cool, isn't it? Well, I don't know if or when it was confirmed, but the flight was the #1 story on MSNBCs countdown this evening, and they showed the pilot (is it Mevill or Melvill I've seen it both way) being presented Astronaut wings ostensibly by an FAI representative. Did anyone catch exactly what Burt Rutan said about the re-entry mode being historical. He made a point about it being safer. Of course, it wouldn't work to dissipate the kinetic energy for an orbital re-entry, would it? |
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