On the first count, the X prize, i think this is an admirable idea. I have no doubt that the prize will be less than the cost to win it but i think this is an exellent way to re-juvenate the space program and will lead to lots of fresh ideas.
As to Starchaser, i couldn't comment on their capability or approach.
I think it is fantastic that, despite a lot of public criticism, Steve Bennett continues to persue his dream. I really hope he makes it. Recent events have proven that large organisations can spread the problem of space flight too thin. A single rubber or silicon component can cause catastrophic effects, so the fewer designers the better!
Britain has a history of innovation, and I like to feel this is a good follow up. Lets face it, Appollo still inspires 30+ years on - I think every engineer dreams of putting NASA on his CV. ;-)
In the same way that Burt Rutan has (brilliantly) made a success out of composite canards, I think Starchaser deserve to do well.
Yesterdays good news about Burt Rutan's venture with a solo piloted excursion for his vehicle puts the X prize close to being claimed. It is expected to be back up again inside a month, the prize calls for a 2 week turnaround.
They have as they say in the spaceship business some anomalies.
The grapevine in the composites world has it that one problem maybe serious and they may have been close to a disaster. Hope not
Here is a Rutan flying a Rutan, only with a rocket motor that stops and refires on command. The interesting part is that the rocket motor is made from off the shelf components. The elecrical igniter is a weed eater spark plug.
For anyone who doubts that space exploration could be done so "cheaply" one just has to look at the NASA approach.
Everyone "knows" that a biro only works in gravity. This was sufficient for NASA to develop the zero gravity pen. This has a ball bearing in the ink reservoir with the ink on one side and pressurised gas on the other, so my nephew informs me.He also said this cost big bucks to develop. The Russians? They sent their cosmonauts up equipped with pencils... at least, until they, like my nephew, could buy their zero-gravity pens cheaply in the retail market.
Actually, there may be a clue here that many space race developments do have commercial spin-offs. It is NASA'sproblem that they are often neglected.
Having said that, i suspect the commercial spin-offs for the "X priz" winner could also be significant.... anyone know of any projections?
Not too sure of that one is true or not. How did the Rusiians sharpen the pencils? Do you think that graphite dust is a great thing to have floating around in a weightless environment surrounded by mission critical elctronic gear?
Well, apparently the answer is that the Russians didn't care about graphite. Neither did NASA.
