SpaceDev Snags Scaled Composites' Suborbital Rocket Plane Contract

space.com ^ | 09/12/03 | Leonard David

[KevinDavis]

Scaled Composites announced the selection Thursday of SpaceDev of Poway, California as the vendor of choice to supply key elements of the SpaceShipOne's hybrid rocket motor.

The selection moves closer the day when SpaceShipOne will attempt to power itself to the edge of space. The craft is being designed to make suborbital flights in order to snag the $10 million X Prize -- a competition to help spur public sector space travel.

Under the watchful eye of aerospace maverick and head of Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan, a team of aero-rocket experts have carried out a step-by-step program to ready SpaceShipOne for its maiden trek to suborbital heights. The White Knight carrier plane, as has SpaceShipOne, have already undergone a number of shakeout flights.

[KevinDavis]

Stock to buy -> Spacedev

[KevinDavis]

Space Ping! This is the space ping list! Let me know if you want on or off this list!

[Flightdeck]

I don't like Burt Rutan, and I don't think this suborbital "White Knight" is going to be the so-called sparkplug for commercial space travel...I'd still pay to go up in it, though.

[Flightdeck]

And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Rutan design Helios I, that recently crashed? Not that I'm taking away from that impressive achievement, something about him just rubs me the wrong way.

[Brett66]

Cool, they might be doing powered flights of SS1 wiyhin a month.

[Brett66]

wiyhin=within

[KevinDavis]

December 16th or December 17th.

[Brett66]

That will be THE test, but I imagine he will want to do some powered tests before going all the way to space.

[Brett66]

I think I might e-mail Fox News and badger them to have complete coverage of this event. They may anyway, but maybe they don't have any specific plans as of yet. I think this merits at least an hour repreive from the latest Laci Peterson developments.

[tricky_k_1972]

Picked off of Space Ref:

As much as 75 percent, by weight, of the Helios Prototype solar electric airplane that crashed into the Pacific Ocean June 26 has been recovered from the waters several miles west of the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

The Helios Prototype is part of a NASA Dryden Flight Research Center project to develop unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies to enable UAVs to perform a variety of long-duration missions including environmental monitoring and telecommunications relay services. Helios was built and operated by AeroVironment, Inc. of Monrovia, Calif.

Burt Rutan's company is Scaled Composites LLC, Mojave, CA.

Just out of curiosity why don't you like Burt Rutan?

[Servant of the 9]

I don't like Burt Rutan, and I don't think this suborbital "White Knight" is going to be the so-called sparkplug for commercial space travel...I'd still pay to go up in it, though.

I don't like Bill Gates, or Larry Ellison, or Steve Jobs, but that's not the point.
They are brilliant cut-throat assholes.
So is Burt Rutan.
That is a recipe for success.
I wouldn't want any of them in the family, but I sure want them running companies I invest in.

So9

[Servant of the 9]

I don't like Burt Rutan, and I don't think this suborbital "White Knight" is going to be the so-called sparkplug for commercial space travel...I'd still pay to go up in it, though.

I don't like Bill Gates, or Larry Ellison, or Steve Jobs, but that's not the point.
They are brilliant cut-throat assholes.
So is Burt Rutan.
That is a recipe for success.
I wouldn't want any of them in the family, but I sure want them running companies I invest in.

So9

[KevinDavis]

I agree, for what its worth CNN has best space coverage, Fox should improve on it. We should e-mail Foxnews this story.

[RightWhale]

SPDV it is. I'm not going to buy any more right now, though.

[narby]

They are brilliant cut-throat assholes. So is Burt Rutan.

Really?

Who's the competition he beat up on?

If there weren't a scaled composites, then this stuff just wouldn't get done. All the rest (in the X prize competition) are either failures, or frauds.

[Flightdeck]

I haven't looked it up, but I'm almost positive Rutan was Helios' designer. I'll check it out.

[CurlyDave]

The fact that someone designed an airplane which later crashed does not necesarily reflect on his competence.

"Pilot error" is a frequent cause of crashes. Even in an unmanned plane there is someone controlling it.

[Flightdeck]

I know. I said it was an impressive design. I believe it was the first to fly around the world with no refueling.

[Flightdeck]

And if memory serves, it got up to @ 95,000 ft.

[Arkie2]

That wasn't Helios. The plane you're talking about is in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. For someone who professes to hate Rutan you're remarkably ignorant of his achievements.