Rutan hits 200k feet! Almost there!

In article ,
Chad Irby writes:
In article .net,
"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:

"Chad Irby" wrote in message
om...

...for a tiny fraction of the cost, and having the ability to
repeat the feat in less than two weeks (which the government
program didn't manage).

So what's significant about it?

If I have to explain to you the significance of the tech behind a
reusable spaceplane, then why have you even bothered posting to this
thread to begin with?

There ain't a whole lot of tech, there, Chad - Burt's taking a very
low-speed approach, (Rather Grand Fenwickian, in fact) with a low
thrust, long burning rocket motor, and a fairly lightweight, high drag
reentry vehicle. Peak speeds are around Mach 2 on ascent, and
somewhere around Mach 1.9 on the re-entry. There's nothing
particularly exotic about those speeds. Heating is low - around 100
Deg C, and an Aluminum or Composite airframe can deal with those
temperatures and dynamic pressures without a whole lot of trickery.

He's also designed a self-stabilizing shape, (In some ways not too
different from the behavior of a badminton birdie) that doesn't need
sophisticated systems, such as adaptive flight control systems or
reaction controls, to set and hold its attitude. While it's a good
design, it's not significant in advancing technology. It also can't
be expanded much beyond the X-Prize requirements. You aren't going to
see an orbital Spaceship !, or a Semi-Ballistic Spaceship 1 Hypersonic
Transport.

It's a very clever design very highly optimized to do only one thing -
meet teh X-Prize requirements.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

In article ,
(Peter Stickney) wrote:

It's a very clever design very highly optimized to do only one thing -
meet teh X-Prize requirements.

Sounds very like Rutan's M.O. throughout his career.

In article ,
Steve Hix writes:
In article ,
(Peter Stickney) wrote:

It's a very clever design very highly optimized to do only one thing -
meet the X-Prize requirements.

Sounds very like Rutan's M.O. throughout his career.

Sure. And that's why he as often as not, succeeds. He specifies his
objectives very carefully, and doesn't deviate at all from them if he
can prevent it. And he knows his stuff, so his approaches to meet
that specification are sound.
Sometimew they don't catch on - the Beech/Raytheon Starship flew like
a dream, but sold like a Lead Blimp. But more often than not, he gets
it right. After all, it seems like Long-Ezes are buzzing around like
dragonflies, while the Moller Skycars fly only in the Press Release.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster