Posted on 12/01/2003 2:30:26 PM PST by BenLurkin
Two examples of ground-breaking advancements in aerospace from the Antelope Valley have been honored by Popular Science magazine as this year's "Best of What's New." Burt Rutan's entry into the civilian space race, called Tier One, won the Grand Award in the space and aviation category.
Also honored in that category was the Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration, an effort by Northrop Grumman Corp. and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to lessen the strength of sonic booms created by supersonic aircraft.
Consisting of the rotund SpaceShipOne spacecraft and the spindly White Knight carrier aircraft, Tier One is the latest endeavor to come out of Rutan's Mojave-based Scaled Composites.
The first manned spacecraft built without government support, SpaceShipOne is designed to be air-launched from the White Knight carrier aircraft, then use a rocket engine to boost it to 100 kilometers - 62.5 miles - above the Earth. Completing an arc, the spacecraft will then descend to a runway landing, much like a glider.
Popular Science called Tier One "the most serious contender in the new space race."
The innovative key to SpaceShipOne's reentry is in creating huge amounts of drag early on, so it lands at roughly the same speeds as a general-aviation airplane.
To accomplish this, the spacecraft's twin-tail section lifts until it is virtually perpendicular to the wings and body, generating drag and slowing the spacecraft.
As is the rule with flight test, not everything has gone as planned.
On SpaceShipOne's third glide flight in September, the spacecraft's nose unexpectedly pitched up during one maneuver. Pilot Mike Melvill was able to recover and land safely, but modifications were required for the spacecraft.
Changes were made to enlarge and otherwise modify the spacecraft's tail. These have proven successful in subsequent test flights, most recently Nov. 19, according to the company's Web site.
The project is Scaled Composites' entry in the X-Prize race, an international competition intended to jump start the space tourism industry.
The competition will award $10 million to the first privately funded team to successfully build and launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers altitude and safely return to earth, then turn around and duplicate the feat with the same ship within two weeks.
Attempting to address more terrestrial concerns, the Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration may be the first step to allow supersonic aircraft travel over populated areas. Such a capability could usher in a new era of supersonic airline travel.
Using an F-5 fighter with a specially-shaped nose and flying in the same supersonic corridor Chuck Yeager used to first break the sound barrier, the demonstration showed that the different shape produced a smaller sonic boom.
The $7 million project led by Northrop Grumman Corp., the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and NASA is one step in the quest for quiet supersonic flight.
As an aircraft flies through the air, it continually creates air pressure waves. Past the speed of sound, these waves combine to make shock waves, much like the wake of a ship moving through water. These shock waves create sonic booms.
The F-5 tests set out to flatten the peak of the air pressure wave, thus softening the boom. The modifications successfully lessened the impact by about one-third.
"We're certainly honored to be recognized" by Popular Science, Northrop Grumman spokesman Jim Hart said.
This is not the company's first such award. Last year, its experimental unmanned air vehicle, the X-47A Pegasus, was honored.
Although the test flights in August were the last scheduled for the modified F-5 program, officials hope to reach Mach 1.4, the speed for which the modifications were designed.
"AWARD WINNER - At left is the crew of the White Night carrier aircraft, from left, Brian Binnie, Mike Melvill, Doug Shane and Pete Siebold. The White Knight and the SpaceshipOne spacecraft, together called Tier One, won the Grand Award in the space and aviation category in Popular Science magazine's "Best of What's New" competition." ROB LAYMAN/Valley Press files
Those are so the pilot can see the ground from any of the various angles the spacecraft will randomly assume during flight.
A navigation system based on Brownian Motion???
Hmmmmm.... that's pretty cooooool!!!
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