|
Missed Something Space.com 'reports' below. Failed to note that
many satellites go up on the space shuttle |
|
Canadian
X PRIZE Team
A Canadian team entered
in a $10 million commercial launch competition is unveiling a full-scale
prototype of its rocket this weekend at the Toronto Aviation and Aircraft
Show. The da Vinci Project's prototype for its entry in the X
PRIZE
competition will be used this summer to test the rocket's reentry system,
which involves parafoils and a specially designed flyable parachute
designed to slow it from a drop of more than 10,000 feet (3,050 meters). Eventually, the
company plans to launch its privately funded rocket from the world's
largest hot air balloon. "This rocket
combines ingenuity with imagination and represents one giant step towards
realizing our ultimate goal -- affordable space travel," said Brian
Feeney, who will pilot the team's space vehicle to a minimum altitude of
62 miles (100 kilometers). Named after the
Italian artist who designed the first aircraft, the project will cost
about $5 million and will take about 18 months to complete from start to
finish, Feeney said. Engine and guidance
systems tested The prototype is 24
feet (7.3 meters) long and weighs about 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms).
Since entering the X PRIZE last summer, the da Vinci Project has completed
a final flight test of the rocket's engine and flight guidance systems in
California. This represents the
first successful testing of propulsion and flight guidance systems at near
gross weight of any X PRIZE competitor, said da Vinci Operations Director
Marc De Jordy. "Support for this
Canadian initiative is overwhelming," De Jordy said. More than 10,000
volunteer hours have helped with the project. "Momentum is building
as we enter the next phase of our mission." Balloon launch, 'ballute'
landing Ultimately, the
5,500-pound (2,500-kilogram) rocket is designed to be tethered 1,000 feet
(300 meters) below a 25-story balloon and lifted over the course of an
hour to 40,000 feet (12,190 meters). A 10,000-pound thrust, liquid
oxygen-kerosene engine then will fire and the rocket will fly away at an
angle to clear from the balloon. The spacecraft then
will rise vertically to its apogee of 74 miles (120 kilometers) in space,
eventually reaching Mach 4 or 2,650 miles (4,265 kilometers) per hour. A "ballute"
will protect and stabilize the rocket on reentry. A flyable parafoil will
be deployed between 25,000 and 10,000 feet (7,620 and 3,050 meters) and
the rocket will descend under control, guided by GPS, to a predetermined
landing zone somewhere in western Canada. Inspired by
Lindbergh Gregg Maryniak,
executive director of the X PRIZE Foundation, praised the da Vinci
Project's fast progress. "They are positioning themselves as a leader
in the emerging space tourism and space flight industry," he said. The X PRIZE is modeled
after the $25,000 Orteig Prize, which inspired Charles Lindbergh to cross
the Atlantic Ocean on his 1927 New York-to-Paris flight. Erik Lindbergh, a
grandson of the historic aviator, is a board member of the foundation
offering the prize. The development of a
partially or completely reusable launcher could revolutionize space
transportation by making flights to space more affordable. Today, most
payloads are launched by costly throwaway rockets, which evolved from
missile technology used during the Cold War. The price tag for such
boosters costs anywhere from $10 million to $800 million a launch. The goal of the X
PRIZE is to stimulate the creation of a new generation of launch vehicles
designed to carry passengers into space at a much more affordable price.
Since 1996, 20 teams have signed up to design novel methods of getting
people into space in an affordable, repeatable and safe method. The competition's
progress Kelly Space and
Technology, Pioneer Rocketplane Inc. and Scaled Composites Inc. also are
considered frontrunners in the X PRIZE competition. British-team
Starchaser Industries also successfully test
launched a
two-stage model of its rocket in July 2000 from Morcambe Bay, Britain. Contestants
competing for the X PRIZE come from five countries -- Russia, Argentina,
Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. The da Vinci Project
engineering prototype will be on public display at the Toronto Aviation & Aircraft Show
from May 4 until May 6. |
