Setback for Rutan

Looks like the flight did not go to plan.

According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control
problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup
controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee
(nothing specific mentioned).

He says they're not flying again until they know what the hell
happened, and the next flight will not now be the first for the
X-Prize, but another test flight.

Can't say I blame him, and Starchaser (the next closest IIRC) are 18
months away, so time isn't that critical.

Peter Kemp

On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 22:58:19 -0400, Peter Kemp
wrote:

Looks like the flight did not go to plan.

According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control
problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup
controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee
(nothing specific mentioned).

He says they're not flying again until they know what the hell
happened, and the next flight will not now be the first for the
X-Prize, but another test flight.

Can't say I blame him, and Starchaser (the next closest IIRC) are 18
months away, so time isn't that critical.

Peter Kemp

And besides they have to try and find all those stupid M&Ms he let
loose in the cockpit.

Note that they will have to make 2 more trips for the prize if they
miss the 2 week window. Still better to delay then risk life, limb,
and the hardware.

Peter Kemp wrote in message . ..
Looks like the flight did not go to plan.

According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control
problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup
controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee
(nothing specific mentioned).

He says they're not flying again until they know what the hell
happened, and the next flight will not now be the first for the
X-Prize, but another test flight.

Can't say I blame him, and Starchaser (the next closest IIRC) are 18
months away, so time isn't that critical.

Peter Kemp

"miso" wrote in message
om...

Note that they will have to make 2 more trips for the prize if they
miss the 2 week window. Still better to delay then risk life, limb,
and the hardware.


They have to make at least two more trips for the prize regardless of
anything else, as they have yet to make a single qualifying flight.

Peter Kemp wrote:
According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control
problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup
controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee
(nothing specific mentioned).

From where I sit, let's call him a a pilot... he WAS driving, after all,
not just watching the pretty lights.

Melville and Rutan were on Leno last night, pilot said the problem
was with the trim system near/at apogee, not control system, though
ISTR someone mentioning right after the flight that they had had
some roll instability during the flight, and right after launch it looked
in the video as if the plane (spacecraft?) was rolling back and forth
about 40-50 degrees each way from vertical.


Jeff

Peter Kemp wrote in
news
Looks like the flight did not go to plan.

According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control
problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup
controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee
(nothing specific mentioned).

He says they're not flying again until they know what the hell
happened, and the next flight will not now be the first for the
X-Prize, but another test flight.

Can't say I blame him, and Starchaser (the next closest IIRC) are 18
months away, so time isn't that critical.

Peter Kemp


What sort of maneuvering controls do they have for when the SS1 is out of
the atmosphere and the aero control surfaces don't work? If any.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik-at-kua.net

In article ,
Jim Yanik writes:
Peter Kemp wrote in
news
Looks like the flight did not go to plan.

According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control
problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup
controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee
(nothing specific mentioned).

He says they're not flying again until they know what the hell
happened, and the next flight will not now be the first for the
X-Prize, but another test flight.

Can't say I blame him, and Starchaser (the next closest IIRC) are 18
months away, so time isn't that critical.

What sort of maneuvering controls do they have for when the SS1 is out of
the atmosphere and the aero control surfaces don't work? If any.

There's a Reaction Contol System (RCS), for Roll, Pitch adn Yaw. I
don't have any specifics on it - Rutan says that it's a "Cold Gas"
system, which is usually compressed gas, but could potentially be
HTP (High Test Peroxide). The RCS can control attitude, but can't
change the trajectory.


--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 07:38:39 -0600, "Jeff Crowell" wrote:

Peter Kemp wrote:
According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control
problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup
controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee
(nothing specific mentioned).

From where I sit, let's call him a a pilot... he WAS driving, after all,
not just watching the pretty lights.

Melville and Rutan were on Leno last night, pilot said the problem
was with the trim system near/at apogee, not control system, though
ISTR someone mentioning right after the flight that they had had
some roll instability during the flight, and right after launch it looked
in the video as if the plane (spacecraft?) was rolling back and forth
about 40-50 degrees each way from vertical.


Jeff

At apogee there would be almost no control authority (lack of sufficient air
molecules). Do they have a thruster system for control at that altitude??

Al Minyard

Alan Minyard wrote:

At apogee there would be almost no control authority (lack of sufficient air
molecules). Do they have a thruster system for control at that altitude??

If there is *any* remotely usable control authority then the thing ain't
in space for any reasonable value of "space".

In article ,
Alan Minyard writes:
On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 07:38:39 -0600, "Jeff Crowell" wrote:

Peter Kemp wrote:
According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control
problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup
controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee
(nothing specific mentioned).

From where I sit, let's call him a a pilot... he WAS driving, after all,
not just watching the pretty lights.

Melville and Rutan were on Leno last night, pilot said the problem
was with the trim system near/at apogee, not control system, though
ISTR someone mentioning right after the flight that they had had
some roll instability during the flight, and right after launch it looked
in the video as if the plane (spacecraft?) was rolling back and forth
about 40-50 degrees each way from vertical.


Jeff

At apogee there would be almost no control authority (lack of sufficient air
molecules). Do they have a thruster system for control at that altitude??

Yes - there's a cold-gas RSC system. See my response to Jim Yanik's
post on this thread.


--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster