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| First private rocket ship goes supersonic |
| 2003-12-18 |
| So Islamic world, what have you invented lately? The first piloted and rocket-powered craft to have been developed by a private company made its maiden flight on Wednesday, over the Mojave desert in California. The craft, called Space Ship One (SS1), also become the first private craft to break the sound barrier, reaching a top speed of 930 mph (1490 km/h). The flight, exactly 100 years after the Wright brothers made their historic flight, marks a big step to winning the $10 million X Prize for private spaceflight. SS1 has been developed by Scaled Composites, an aerospace company run by famed airplane pioneer Burt Rutan. My moneys on Burt to win the prise. The fully reusable system uses two vehicles. The first, a turbojet-powered carrier plane called White Knight, carries the second, SS1, up to about 15,000 metres (48,000 feet). SS1 is then released by White Knight and ignites its innovative hybrid rocket motor. Test pilot Brian Binnie, at the controls of SS1, began the flight at 0815 PST, after being released from the carrier plane by its pilot, Peter Siebold. The two were moving at Mach 0.55 at the time of release. Binnie then pulled SS1’s nose up to 60° and lit the rocket for 15 seconds. This blasted SS1 to 930 mph, or Mach 1.2, and an altitude of 68,000 feet (20,700 km). Such heights have not been seen by any such rocket craft since the X-15 test flights in the 1950s. Finally, SS1 glided down for 12 minutes and returned to the runway. To win the X-Prize, the craft will have to reach an altitude of 100,000 metres (328,000 feet) with three people aboard, and then repeat the process within two weeks. Rutan and his colleagues plan to continue their cautious approach and push a bit higher with each flight over the coming months as they work toward the prize flights. Picture of both planes at the link, typical Rutan styling. Look out NASA. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 All I want to know is if it folds up into a suitcase like George Jetson's car? And can I drive it to work? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-12-18 10:48:39 PM |
| #3 "68,000 feet (20,700 km)".... Er...not to be too picky here...but I think they got a few decimal points off! Hehe. I think they meant 20.7 kilometers, because 20,700km would put him at I believe geosynchronous orbit. |
| Posted by: Val 2003-12-18 8:19:06 PM |
| #2 I still like Bob Zubrin's plan but I think it doesn't qualify for the x-prize so we won't hear much about it. Zubrin wanted to use mid-air refueling at high altitude for the last leap into suborbit. If you use kerosine for your rocket fuel you get less bang, but its easier to refuel on the ground and in the air. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2003-12-18 1:20:30 PM |
| #1 Heres a mojave blogger with pictures of the drop test: http://www.mojavebooks.com/mhv/031217-1.html Scaled composites website: http://www.scaled.com |
| Posted by: Frank Martin 2003-12-18 12:33:29 PM |