Spaceship One Roll Problem

Any rumblings from the desert on the cause of the roll problems during
yesterday's flight?

I know Melville said he might have stepped on something, and Rutan was
quoted as saying wind shear might cause a roll problem, but neither one
appeared to have much confidence in their answer.

An uncommanded roll like that would probably cause a permanant crease in my
seat cushion.

KB

Kyle Boatright wrote...

Any rumblings from the desert on the cause of the roll problems during
yesterday's flight?

I saw somewhere a quote from Rutan attributing it to
dihedral effect (roll due to sideslip), a problem he
said they'd been chasing for a while. I know of nothing
substantive and public on it and can't re-find the quote
I'm thinking of.

An uncommanded roll like that would probably cause a
permanant crease in my seat cushion.

Apparently there was more than a little concern in the
control room as well. There's probably a heck of a laundry
bill coming.

Dave 'Fetch me my brown pants!" Hyde

An uncommanded roll like that would probably cause a
permanant crease in my seat cushion.

Not top mention a squishy feeling and a awful smell.

Quent

In article ,
"Kyle Boatright" wrote:

Any rumblings from the desert on the cause of the roll problems during
yesterday's flight?

I know Melville said he might have stepped on something, and Rutan was
quoted as saying wind shear might cause a roll problem, but neither one
appeared to have much confidence in their answer.

An uncommanded roll like that would probably cause a permanant crease in my
seat cushion.

KB



We often experienced it in some of the missiles we tested. We attributed
it to asymmetrical mass distributions, where the thrust line did not
coincide with the axis of symmetry, resulting in a thrust-induced roll.

From http://www.spaceflightnow.com/ss1/040929x1launch.html

"Rutan said SpaceShipOne is particularly susceptible to rolls and has
been from the beginning.

"The airplane, since its early testing, we've been living with a known
deficiency," he said. "It's difficult to fix once you have an airplane
flying. It's easy to fix on the second airplane and we have very good
fixes for excess dihedral effects on our next spaceship."

He said Melvill's ability to easily overcome the roll proved the
spacecraft is more robust and, by design, forgiving than any other
manned spacecraft."



Kyle Boatright wrote:
Any rumblings from the desert on the cause of the roll problems during
yesterday's flight?

I know Melville said he might have stepped on something, and Rutan was
quoted as saying wind shear might cause a roll problem, but neither one
appeared to have much confidence in their answer.

An uncommanded roll like that would probably cause a permanant crease in my
seat cushion.

KB

Missile shaped vehicles are particular susceptable to roll due to sideslip
problems. See almost any book on Aircraft Stability and Control for a
detailed explanation of the issues. I think this is a more likely
explanation than wind shear and some of the other gossip that is
circulating.



"Rich" wrote in message
...
From http://www.spaceflightnow.com/ss1/040929x1launch.html

"Rutan said SpaceShipOne is particularly susceptible to rolls and has
been from the beginning.

"The airplane, since its early testing, we've been living with a known
deficiency," he said. "It's difficult to fix once you have an airplane
flying. It's easy to fix on the second airplane and we have very good
fixes for excess dihedral effects on our next spaceship."

He said Melvill's ability to easily overcome the roll proved the
spacecraft is more robust and, by design, forgiving than any other
manned spacecraft."



Kyle Boatright wrote:
Any rumblings from the desert on the cause of the roll problems during
yesterday's flight?

I know Melville said he might have stepped on something, and Rutan was
quoted as saying wind shear might cause a roll problem, but neither one
appeared to have much confidence in their answer.

An uncommanded roll like that would probably cause a permanant crease in
my
seat cushion.

KB

I just saw 'Black Sky, The Race to Space' on the Discovery Channel.
Boy! Wish I was on the team. What an opportunity to do something
good and exciting at the same time! I full of emotions when the
landing gear collapsed and when they Melvill made that beautiful
landing after reentry. Rutan is good and he has surrounded himself
with good people, that's the formula.

That Melvill guy's got balls. From being a high school drop-out to
first civilian in space in a 'homebuilt'! Only in America. What a
Country!

They had a sign that said:

Space Ship One
Government Zero

That is a great statement! Only in America do you get the freedom to
do something like this and to publicly say such a statement and not be
imprisoned or killed.

History in the making. I have confidence that Rutan has the
experience to address the roll problem.

I wish them all the best and I hope the rest of the tests and flights
continue safely and successfully.

Bryan "formerly known as 'The Monk'" Chaisone

Rich wrote in message ...
From http://www.spaceflightnow.com/ss1/040929x1launch.html

"Rutan said SpaceShipOne is particularly susceptible to rolls and has
been from the beginning.

"The airplane, since its early testing, we've been living with a known
deficiency," he said. "It's difficult to fix once you have an airplane
flying. It's easy to fix on the second airplane and we have very good
fixes for excess dihedral effects on our next spaceship."

He said Melvill's ability to easily overcome the roll proved the
spacecraft is more robust and, by design, forgiving than any other
manned spacecraft."



Kyle Boatright wrote:
Any rumblings from the desert on the cause of the roll problems during
yesterday's flight?

I know Melville said he might have stepped on something, and Rutan was
quoted as saying wind shear might cause a roll problem, but neither one
appeared to have much confidence in their answer.

An uncommanded roll like that would probably cause a permanant crease in my
seat cushion.

KB

MSNBC had a line at the bottom of the screen when he was being interviewed
after last week's flight that said "Mike Velvill" (sic). Our media at work.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

That Melvill guy's got balls. From being a high school drop-out to
first civilian in space in a 'homebuilt'! Only in America. What a
Country!

Bob Chilcoat wrote:
MSNBC had a line at the bottom of the screen when he was being interviewed
after last week's flight that said "Mike Velvill" (sic). Our media at work.

CNN right now has as headline "Another Flight Into Orbit"

Not.

Yeah Bob, you gotta love them.

Bryan

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message ...
MSNBC had a line at the bottom of the screen when he was being interviewed
after last week's flight that said "Mike Velvill" (sic). Our media at work.