Kinda neat-o looking. Strong color scheme, and I particularly like the organic complexities of the windows. While this craft is more a traditional "rocket ship" design (at least visually) than its SpaceShipOne competitor, it sets itself apart by using an inflatable ballute for reentry. Now that's going to be interesting to see. The 8,500-pound Wild Fire launches after an enormous helium balloon carries it to 80,000 feet over the wide-open plains of Saskatchewan, near "Cape" Kindersley. Space.com has a good overview of the race between Scaled Composits and the da Vinci Project.
My one concern is that with the much-publicized success of SpaceShipOne's sub-orbital test flight and announced launch dates for the X-Prize qualifying flights, the da Vinci Project may be pushing things a little too hard in order to stay competitive. As far as anyone knows, Wild Fire has had no actual test flights, so they're essentially rolling the dice on its maiden voyage. I wish them well, but it sounds a bit reckless to me. Even with shakedown flights, SpaceShipOne had some scary moments...
Now Playing: Marty Robbins The Essential Marty Robbins
I'm sure you've seen this, but just in case you haven't, here's a news update on one of the competitors:
ReplyDeleteQUEETS, Wash. (AP) -- A team taking a low-budget stab at the $10 million Ansari X Prize for private manned spaceflight suffered a setback Sunday, when their rocket malfunctioned and exploded after shooting less than 1,000 feet in the air.
No one was hurt in the test of the Rubicon 1 just south of Olympic National Park. The 23-foot-long, 38-inch-diameter spacecraft held three dummies simulating the weight of astronauts.
The rocket, which crashed about 200 feet from takeoff after its parachute failed to deploy, will have to be completely rebuilt, said Eric Meier, a mechanical engineer and co-founder of Space Transport Corp., of Forks.
Meier and partner Phillip Storm had hoped to reach supersonic speeds and an altitude of 20,000 feet in Sunday's flight, but Meier seemed undeterred by Sunday's failure.
Oh yeah. Those investors are *really* gonna line up after this spectacular fireball. Actually... I suppose that's not entirely accurate. It wasn't really spectacular at all. Just kind of broke up and fell into the water. That dummy's head washing up on the shore tho-- now THAT was creepy!
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