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On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 11:12:43 -0400, Corky Scott
wrote:

On 5 Oct 2004 05:21:06 -0700, ChuckSlusarczyk
wrote:

I say it's a fantastic job well done!

So say us all!!

Chuck (former NASA geek) S

It was a great feat, done in typically inventive Rutan fashion. I'm
just having a hard time imagining how it could be of any possible use
to anyone besides Burt Rutan and Richard Branson. Is this to be the
near space equivalent of a carnival thrill ride, albeit a hideously
expensive and extremely dangerous one?

I really do see this as an impressive engineering demonstration, it
just seems so, I don't know, useless. It's like spending millions to
develop a car that can go 2,000 miles per hour. What do you do with
it? Where can you drive it?


The media keep playing this up as opening the door for Tourists, but
it's really a "first step" toward a much less expensive way to get
into space commercially. Only the future knows how far this approach
will be capable of going.

They are only making it to sub orbit at present and to go much
farther, or higher, means a faster re-entry speed and a lot more heat.
The feathering technique is only going to work to a point so they are
eventually going to have to work on more advanced methods of heat
control on re-entry.

Different materials for the outside of the craft, different and
innovative ablative techniques may be just around the corner. Already
there is, or has been some work done on using liquid (water) instead
of the tile used by the shuttle. It's kind of a "weeping wing"
approach that might allow much less expensive materials to be used for
high speed re-entry from high altitude.

Safe space flight, be it NASA or commercial is probably a long way
off.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
Corky Scott