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Author Topic: SpaceShipOne Pictures  (Read 5068 times)
Krakrok
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on: June 21, 2004, 11:43:56 AM

I was out at the SpaceShipOne launch and landing this morning in Mojave, CA. Just uploaded my pictures from it. You can read whatever articles about it on CNN or Space.com. Basically SpaceShipOne went 62 miles up, came back down, and landed in about 90 minutes or so.

http://www.fileradio.com/spaceshipone/
schild
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Reply #1 on: June 21, 2004, 11:51:14 AM

That's awesome.
HaemishM
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Reply #2 on: June 21, 2004, 12:31:02 PM

Much coolness.

Sky
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Reply #3 on: June 21, 2004, 12:41:39 PM

I like the elevator more.
Alluvian
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Reply #4 on: June 21, 2004, 12:45:13 PM

Anyone have anymore info on how much damage the craft took during it's flight?  The CNN report had a tiny blurb on it, but it wasn't even very clear on if it happened during landing or flight.

Thrilled it went well, but I wonder how close it came to being a disaster.  I just hope none of these X prize attempts meet with death, after NASA being practically shut down due to the discovery explosion I don't want to see some family member try and sue the X prize foundation for 'pushing' people into taking dangerous risks.  Hopefully they won't have any legal legs to stand on.  Already the discovery crash may cost us Hubble as well.  Even if the decision to let it crash and burn is overturned, we may not have a shuttle up in time to save it.  I forget the details on when the last chance to save it was.
kaid
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Reply #5 on: June 21, 2004, 01:06:32 PM

From what I heard they had an issue with one brace buckling on reentry that caused a bang but it didnt sound like it was to much of an issue. My guess is they will disclose more tonight after they get a chance to give it a more solid look over in their shop.

Edit just saw this new blurb.

On landing, Melvill told of a loud bang he heard during the flight. He said it appeared to have been part of the composite airframe buckling near the rocket nozzle. However, the slight indention in SpaceShipOne's exterior did not appear to have jeopardized the craft's performance

Kaid
Sky
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Reply #6 on: June 21, 2004, 02:55:11 PM

Between the last shuttle accident and the Bush cowboy on mars agenda, I was pretty down on the Hubble's chances. I still am, but I've been reading some stuff on the newer ground based telescopes with advanced interferometry (or however it's speeled) gear. Those plus the new IR satellite going up in a couple years should almost make up for losing Hubble.

All the more reason I'm highly interested in the elevator.
ClydeJr
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Reply #7 on: June 21, 2004, 03:25:57 PM

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/SS1_press_040621.html
Quote from: Various snips from article
At a post-landing press briefing, the 63-year old Melvill described a series of technical snags that haunted his record-setting flight. Right after motor ignition, the pilot said the craft rolled 90 degrees to the left, then 90 degrees to the right. "It has never ever done that before," he explained.

Melvill said he leveled out the rocketship, but then experienced trim problems during his climb outside the Earth’s atmosphere -- an issue that he dealt with as he made his way to a desert runway landing.

Quote
During SpaceShipOne’s climb, Melvill said he also heard a surprising bang, coming from the engine area where a fairing holding the craft’s nozzle buckled.

Quote
"It was not a smooth flight from the standpoint of trajectory," Rutan reported at the press briefing. "This was not a perfect flight," he said, although the overall performance of the rocketship was right on the money.

Rutan said the anomaly Melvill experienced was "the most serious flight safety systems problem that we’ve had in the entire program."

Back up hardware on SpaceShipOne worked and the craft made a beautiful landing, Rutan said. "Even though we really didn’t go where we were planning to go today…makes me feel very good because I felt it’s important to put those kind of backup systems in…and they worked," he added.

"The backup saved the day," Melvill noted.
Signe
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Reply #8 on: June 21, 2004, 04:44:09 PM

Nice pics!  I'm very jealous.  You did better that CNN, in my opinion.  They couldn't even find it some of the time... even with good old Miles pointing it out to them!

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Arcadian Del Sol
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Reply #9 on: June 23, 2004, 10:29:42 AM

1. Discovery didn't blow up.

2. Going to Mars was a plan first set into motion during the Bush Sr Administration, and was given money to fund it during the 2nd Clinton Administration. Bush jr's "cowboy plans" are little more than a... "we're paying for what? okay sounds good to me." follow-up.

3. why isn't Clinton's agenda the "hillbilly plan" ?

4. "SpaceShipOne, GovernmentZero" is brilliant.

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Rasix
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Reply #10 on: June 23, 2004, 10:55:31 AM

You can really partisan anything, can't you Arc?

-Rasix
Arcadian Del Sol
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Reply #11 on: June 23, 2004, 10:56:24 AM

stop reading threads from the bottom up.

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Soukyan
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Reply #12 on: June 23, 2004, 10:59:16 AM

Quote from: Arcadian Del Sol
stop reading threads from the bottom up.


But... but... when I see your name I can't help but jump right to your posts.

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Rasix
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Reply #13 on: June 23, 2004, 11:09:01 AM

Quote from: Arcadian Del Sol
stop reading threads from the bottom up.


That still doesn't explain point 3, Manny.  

Edit (to be helpful): Columbia was the recent crash.

<Olive branch>The end portion of Silent Storm sure was disappointing, wasn't it? </olive branch>

-Rasix
Arcadian Del Sol
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Reply #14 on: June 24, 2004, 03:55:51 AM

Quote from: Rasix
Quote from: Arcadian Del Sol
stop reading threads from the bottom up.


That still doesn't explain point 3, Manny.  


Because you have to read the thread from top to bottom to see what I was responding to

Quote

Edit (to be helpful): Columbia was the recent crash.

correct.
Quote

<Olive branch>The end portion of Silent Storm sure was disappointing, wasn't it? </olive branch>


not quite that far yet. I just ran into my first "I'm Not In The Brotherhood Of Steel" robo-soldier, but with total victory in my grasp, I shot one too many barrels of fuel and brought the whole building down on my squad.

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Signe
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Reply #15 on: June 24, 2004, 07:32:12 AM

I can't help noticing how much Arc and Raz's avatar's resemble each other.  Are you two sisters?

My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
Arcadian Del Sol
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Reply #16 on: June 24, 2004, 09:51:07 AM

political sisters.

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Rasix
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Reply #17 on: June 24, 2004, 10:38:38 AM

LucasArt adventure games.. a dieing family.   I never did finish Grim Fandango.. (CD is lying around somewhere)

Incidentally, I don't think Murray and Manny would have the same political views.  Would be a good debate though.

Is this a big enough derail yet?

-Rasix
Signe
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Reply #18 on: June 24, 2004, 12:43:52 PM

I think I forgot to check the camels yesterday.

(My derail >'s your derail)

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Rasix
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Reply #19 on: June 24, 2004, 12:48:33 PM

We got a greenhouse now to mass manufacture grass. So at least they won't be totally starving all of the time.

You and Righ have disappointed me. It's just me and Delim logging on and saying "fuck, I wish more people would play" while we beg people for supplies we have no hope of getting (worked, we got some gold wire for an ore inferno).

-Rasix
Sky
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Reply #20 on: June 25, 2004, 09:03:24 AM

Ok, so it's a hillbilly plan. Whatever, I guess the whole 'man on the moon' ideal isn't in the least bit a romanticized cowboy fantasy. Right.

I'm not against human space exploration, we just aren't there technologically. We reap much greater benefits with unmanned operations for the money required, when contrasted against manned missions. That's why we don't do manned exploration anymore.

A manned mission to mars would be a huge drain on the entire space administration budget. If we kept going incrementally, with each unmanned mission building a piece of the puzzle, so that a couple decades down the line, when we have the initial problems all solved, we can go ahead and send someone out there.

The space elevator, on the other hand, would allow us to dominate space in a much cheaper and constructive way. And also pave the way for cheaper manned missions, foregoing the massive investment in solid fuel boosters (and inherent dangers of riding a huge tank of high explosives).

That's all I was saying, but go ahead and get wrapped up in my making fun of Bush, because it's so uncommon to see someone doing that.

Is Arcadian our thread editor?
Piperfan
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Reply #21 on: June 25, 2004, 10:47:06 AM

Space Elevator = Huge target

Not that Im against it. Where are you going to put it so the locals dont scream about it being a terrorist magnet?

Also I havent kept up on the talk behind it. Do we have materials that that are strong / light enough to make it feasible?

There is crazy talk in the community about lighter than air platforms serving as gateways to higher orbit. It is not certain the concept is doable but it would be much cheaper than an elevator if so. Plus there could be many of them.

Go stand in walmart parking lot and try to get 5 other people to go help you move furniture for a few hours. That's mmo grouping to me. - Sky
Rof
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Reply #22 on: June 25, 2004, 01:19:42 PM

Quote from: Piperfan
Space Elevator = Huge target

Not that Im against it. Where are you going to put it so the locals dont scream about it being a terrorist magnet?

Also I havent kept up on the talk behind it. Do we have materials that that are strong / light enough to make it feasible?


I think one of the current plans was tethering it to a floating platform in the Pacific. (So that if it fails, it'll mostly hit water.)

Carbon nanotubes are theoretically strong enough, but nobody knows how to make them long enough or cheaply enough to use as a cable.

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Teleku
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Reply #23 on: June 25, 2004, 02:06:31 PM

I just find it funny you think we arn't there technologically for space exploration yet, but support the space elevator.  I mean, I think its a great idea too, and pray they build one.  However, last I read, most plans for the space elevator call for having some form of gigantic tower several miles high/wide to tether the platform to.  Which seems more likely in the forseeable future?  People running around the moon/mars, or THAT?  Hell, even if we could right now, it would take 30 years to build that alone.

Of course I may not be up to date on the issue.  Are there any plans yet that don't seem to require building a skyscrapper 10 times bigger than we can build right now?

"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants.  He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor."
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Piperfan
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Reply #24 on: June 25, 2004, 08:17:51 PM

There is a conference on a space elevator project study in DC starting Monday the 28th.

It is a three day affair with a few specific discussions; one of which is carbon nanotubing materials. The whole thing is likely pie in the sky but may be more feasbile than I thought at first. Materials research has progressed in the last decade.

I see a $40B price tag estimate. Multiply by ten or more (of course it will go way over that budget; its 62,000 miles long and new building techniques/infrastructure will have to be invented) and I am not sure it is affordable or not, even over a 20 year construction period. What I dont see is operation cost estimates or $/payload estimates. That is important. If you build a $400B infrastructure the lift capacity better be high and the cost/mass really low.

Envionmentalists would never let a US firm or the gov't build it. it would be decades in court. It would get in the way of some bird's migration or cause "irrepairable damage" to weather patterns/ecosphere etc.  Maybe China will start on it once the tech is developed in 20+ years.

Go stand in walmart parking lot and try to get 5 other people to go help you move furniture for a few hours. That's mmo grouping to me. - Sky
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