X-Prize is currently live on Discovery Science Channel

Roger that Roger. Sorry, couldn't help myself. All excited for
Burt's team. He's got a bunch of great guys working with him. Wish I
was one of them.

Bryan "was Monk" Chaisone

Roger Halstead wrote in message . ..
If you get the Discovery Science channel, it's pretty good coverage
with lots of history.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

On 4 Oct 2004 13:18:02 -0700, (bryan chaisone)
wrote:

Roger that Roger. Sorry, couldn't help myself. All excited for
Burt's team. He's got a bunch of great guys working with him. Wish I
was one of them.

People were getting choked up all over the place including the two
watching from our place:-))

To me this was more momentous than the original Mercury flights and
the whole project probably cost less than one of those capsules.

Although most would not consider a $20 million project grass roots it
was exactly that. Carbon fiber and resin lay-ups that were easily
fixable. Think what would have happened in NASA had they broken the
gear off.

The flight of SpaceShipOne is the opening of the door to space flight
for industry and the world in a way that could never be approached by
the governments of the world.

To me it now makes going to the other planets much more of a
possibility but how long before "Protect the Planets" groups emerge?

I say it's a fantastic job well done!

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
Bryan "was Monk" Chaisone

Roger Halstead wrote in message . ..
If you get the Discovery Science channel, it's pretty good coverage
with lots of history.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Roger Halstead wrote...

I say it's a fantastic job well done!

Hear hear!

Dave 'green' Hyde

In article , Roger Halstead says...

Although most would not consider a $20 million project grass roots it
was exactly that. Carbon fiber and resin lay-ups that were easily
fixable. Think what would have happened in NASA had they broken the
gear off.

First there would have to be a board of inquiry and meetings to discuss the gear
breaking .Then a survey would be done to get opinions of why it broke, next the
design teams would come up with a fix .Then Congress would investigate and try
to place blame on somebody. Next Rev Al would show up yelling that the program
is racist because the entire machine is white. Bids would be let out ,a
committee would study the bids,The fiscial division would let a contract and the
gear would be replaced. That is after OSHA ,EPA and the rest inspected the
landing site to check for danger to wildlife. Total time for the project 1 1/2
years. Rutan and crew one week .


The flight of SpaceShipOne is the opening of the door to space flight
for industry and the world in a way that could never be approached by
the governments of the world.

You got that right .When did Government ever do anything better then the private
sector? Perhaps with the exception of wars?


To me it now makes going to the other planets much more of a
possibility but how long before "Protect the Planets" groups emerge?

Don't worry they will if there are tree huggers it won't be long before the
first "planet huggers" show up :-)


I say it's a fantastic job well done!

So say us all!!

Chuck (former NASA geek) S

On 5 Oct 2004 05:21:06 -0700, ChuckSlusarczyk
wrote:

The flight of SpaceShipOne is the opening of the door to space flight
for industry and the world in a way that could never be approached by
the governments of the world.

You got that right .When did Government ever do anything better then the private
sector?

Any operation driven by the desire for knowledge, not profit. SS1 was
different; it was enabled by the personal fortune of Paul Allen, who tends
to spend it on stuff like professional ball teams and goofy-looking
museums.

Jay Leno had a good line about this, last night: "They just won the $10
million X-Prize, but the spacecraft cost them $25 million to build. Guess
there weren't any rocket scientists on that team...." :-)

If space development had depended on the whims of billionaires, space
flight would probably still be a dream. When a billionaire's personal will
is missing, the government is really the only alternative.

My guess is that no spacecraft showed a profit until communications
satellites could be deployed into geosynchronous orbit. And it took a lot
of government-funded development to enable that kind of operation.

The government *is* getting better. They're doing a lot of funding without
demanding the level of oversight they previously had. The Mars Rovers were
an example of this sort of approach.

I taped CNN's post-landing coverage and watched it last night. Dr.
Diamandis is arranging additional money to encourage the other X-prize
entrants to keep going. He says there's going to be a big Fly-Off in
Arizona in 2006; they're going to bring all the contestants together and
spend a week launching their vehicles. THAT'S going to be fun to watch.

Ron Wanttaja

In article , Ron Wanttaja says...

I taped CNN's post-landing coverage and watched it last night. Dr.
Diamandis is arranging additional money to encourage the other X-prize
entrants to keep going. He says there's going to be a big Fly-Off in
Arizona in 2006; they're going to bring all the contestants together and
spend a week launching their vehicles. THAT'S going to be fun to watch.


Now that will be just to cool.Kinda like a giant model airplane contest except
with full size models. Ron how fast do you think we can we come up with
something? :-)

See ya

Chuck S

Ron Wanttaja wrote in message . ..

He says there's going to be a big Fly-Off in
Arizona in 2006; they're going to bring all the contestants together and
spend a week launching their vehicles. THAT'S going to be fun to watch.

Ron Wanttaja

I'm gonna be there for that one, if I can help it.

Bryan

On 5 Oct 2004 05:21:06 -0700, ChuckSlusarczyk
wrote:

I say it's a fantastic job well done!

So say us all!!

Chuck (former NASA geek) S

It was a great feat, done in typically inventive Rutan fashion. I'm
just having a hard time imagining how it could be of any possible use
to anyone besides Burt Rutan and Richard Branson. Is this to be the
near space equivalent of a carnival thrill ride, albeit a hideously
expensive and extremely dangerous one?

I really do see this as an impressive engineering demonstration, it
just seems so, I don't know, useless. It's like spending millions to
develop a car that can go 2,000 miles per hour. What do you do with
it? Where can you drive it?

Corky Scott

Date: 10/5/2004 10:12 Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

On 5 Oct 2004 05:21:06 -0700, ChuckSlusarczyk
wrote:

I say it's a fantastic job well done!

So say us all!!

Chuck (former NASA geek) S

It was a great feat, done in typically inventive Rutan fashion. I'm
just having a hard time imagining how it could be of any possible use
to anyone besides Burt Rutan and Richard Branson. Is this to be the
near space equivalent of a carnival thrill ride, albeit a hideously
expensive and extremely dangerous one?

I really do see this as an impressive engineering demonstration, it
just seems so, I don't know, useless. It's like spending millions to
develop a car that can go 2,000 miles per hour. What do you do with
it? Where can you drive it?

Corky Scott

If the prices come down enough I could see this as an
inercontinental/transcontinental business jet application.

Dan, U.S Air Force, retired

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 11:12:43 -0400, Corky Scott
wrote:

On 5 Oct 2004 05:21:06 -0700, ChuckSlusarczyk
wrote:

I say it's a fantastic job well done!

So say us all!!

Chuck (former NASA geek) S

It was a great feat, done in typically inventive Rutan fashion. I'm
just having a hard time imagining how it could be of any possible use
to anyone besides Burt Rutan and Richard Branson. Is this to be the
near space equivalent of a carnival thrill ride, albeit a hideously
expensive and extremely dangerous one?

I really do see this as an impressive engineering demonstration, it
just seems so, I don't know, useless. It's like spending millions to
develop a car that can go 2,000 miles per hour. What do you do with
it? Where can you drive it?


The media keep playing this up as opening the door for Tourists, but
it's really a "first step" toward a much less expensive way to get
into space commercially. Only the future knows how far this approach
will be capable of going.

They are only making it to sub orbit at present and to go much
farther, or higher, means a faster re-entry speed and a lot more heat.
The feathering technique is only going to work to a point so they are
eventually going to have to work on more advanced methods of heat
control on re-entry.

Different materials for the outside of the craft, different and
innovative ablative techniques may be just around the corner. Already
there is, or has been some work done on using liquid (water) instead
of the tile used by the shuttle. It's kind of a "weeping wing"
approach that might allow much less expensive materials to be used for
high speed re-entry from high altitude.

Safe space flight, be it NASA or commercial is probably a long way
off.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
Corky Scott