X-Prize is currently live on Discovery Science Channel

In article , Ron Wanttaja says...
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? :-)

Depends on how much I can smuggle away from work under my coat. :-)


I got some big coats :-)

Chuck S

On 05 Oct 2004 19:53:04 GMT, (B2431) wrote:


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?

The same kind of launch has been available commercially for years at fairly
low prices...the difference now is that humans can *ride* the sounding
rocket. So the only real application is barnstorming.

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

Ummm, well. Sure, SpaceShipOne hauls, but the motor only burns for a
couple of minutes. If you try to get some horizontal range out of it,
it'll spend more energy fighting drag. Transatmospheric flight ain't my
bag, but I'm guessing you'll have to get at least half orbital velocity to
get the range to stretch out. That's two or three times faster than SS1.

Ron Wanttaja

NASA dump......hmmmmm......How big of an airplane can you build out of old
PowerPoint charts? So is this kinda along the lines of those contest where
they build boats out of cardboard?

"ChuckSlusarczyk" wrote in message
...
Heh Heh heh you read my mind, except this time the winner gets cash
:-)They
could turn us loose in an old NASA dump and see what we could come up
with.

ChuckSlusarczyk wrote:
In article , Ron Wanttaja says...

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? :-)

Depends on how much I can smuggle away from work under my coat. :-)



I got some big coats :-)

Remember the old Johnny Cash song about the guy built a Caddilac "one
piece at a time"?

Heheh, it wouldn't cost a dime, but if I remember right, in the song
it took a few years

From: ChuckSlusarczyk
Date: 10/5/2004 18:51 Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

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

Can I have exclusive media rights?

Will you and Ron flip a coin to see who goes into space first? As exclusive
reporter I expect to go up in this space ship of yours.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

From: Ron Wanttaja
Date: 10/5/2004 21:55 Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

On 5 Oct 2004 16:51:43 -0700, ChuckSlusarczyk
wrote:

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? :-)

Depends on how much I can smuggle away from work under my coat. :-)

Ron Wanttaja


Ron,do you take requests? NASA has more than enough T-38s. Would they notice if
you slipped one under your coat?

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

"Richard Lamb" wrote ...

BTW, isn't the X-15 hanging in the Smithsonian the one that did the
last speed dash - kinda melted in places?

I'm not sure which one's in the Smithsonian. It's interesting to note that
at the end of the program the total non-capture flight time for the whole
fleet was only 30 hours. The hours don't add up very fast when the average
flight times are eight to ten minutes ... even if the distances cover a
couple of states. Their normal high speed run dropped over northern Nevada
and landed at Edwards about twelve minutes later.

Rich

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 23:14:59 GMT, "Blueskies" wrote:


"Corky Scott" wrote in message ...
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



Look he http://www.nogravity.com/

Better known as the Vomit comet. No, that was the one the Astronauts
train in.

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

On 06 Oct 2004 05:10:02 GMT, (B2431) wrote:

From: Ron Wanttaja

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? :-)

Depends on how much I can smuggle away from work under my coat. :-)

Ron,do you take requests? NASA has more than enough T-38s. Would they notice if
you slipped one under your coat?

Probably, since I don't work for NASA. My employer only has one, they're
likely to notice if it's missing. :-)

Ron Wanttaja

From: Ron Wanttaja
Date: 10/6/2004 01:57 Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

On 06 Oct 2004 05:10:02 GMT, (B2431) wrote:

From: Ron Wanttaja

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? :-)

Depends on how much I can smuggle away from work under my coat. :-)

Ron,do you take requests? NASA has more than enough T-38s. Would they notice
if
you slipped one under your coat?

Probably, since I don't work for NASA. My employer only has one, they're
likely to notice if it's missing. :-)

Ron Wanttaja

Hey, it was worth a shot. It's OK, I am used to rejection, I was married for
almost 20 years.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired