Space

At The Cup

But with problematic Internet connection (no Internet or power in the press tent). But Clark Lindsey is all over it. Just keep scrolling. The key story is that Armadillo made an attempt at Level 1 at 9 AM but scrubbed until this afternoon due to an ignition problem.

Orbital Outfitters had a press conference at 10 AM at which they premiered their suborbital space suit. It was modeled by its designer, and is aimed initially at the pilot market. A passenger version will be coming along later.

[Update about 1 PM MDT]

In answer to Louise’s questions, it was a working prototype, and the suit was pressurized (not sure to what psi), but there was no comm system. The visor did seem to open pretty easily. I think that there may have been some pockets, but they could be easily added. One of the claimed features is the ability to customize and colorize.

Philosophy

Futility

When we went out to the White Sands monument, I was reading one of the signs about how life adapts to the shifting dunes. Yuccas apparently root themselves in the interdune area, planting roots deep to get at the underground aquifer. As the sand advances and starts to bury them, they grow ever higher, to keep their stalks in view of the sun. This continues for years until they may be only a couple feet above the top of the dune, with thirty feet of plant beneath. They persevere.

Until, that is, the dune continues to advance, removing the supporting sand from around the thirty-foot plant until it collapses of its own weight (somehow, the aspect ratio of the Ares I, of which I saw a model at Holloman today, comes to mind).

There’s a lesson there somewhere. I guess it’s “life sucks, and then you die.”

On that cheery note, I’m off to bed, so I can go watch Armadillo win the Lunar Landing Challenge in the morning. Or be surprised if they don’t.

Space

Editing The Real World

Speaking of the Museum of Space History, as I said, Clark and I visited it. I hadn’t been there since 1993 (when I was out here for one of the DC-X flights) and he had never been.

It’s a beautiful building in a beautiful location, overlooking the valley with the white gypsum sands of the national monument and test range in the distance, with lots of interesting artifacts. But the exhibits seem quite out of date, and are often misleading (particularly the older ones). still Some of it seems frozen in the mid-eighties. If your only source for what was going on in space was this museum, you would think that Russia was flying Buran, and planning a fleet of four or five vehicles. You would think that Ariane IV was the most current version, and that there was no Delta new than Delta II, or Atlas built after the eighties version. Much of the text description is written in present tense, with no way for the reader to know that it is a couple decades out of date. (A more minor issue is that they have the date of the Apollo fire as January 26th, rather than the 27th, and this error has apparently adorned their walls for many years).

I know that it costs money to update and reprint displays, but you would think that with modern computer and printer technology it shouldn’t be that hard. There would be no shortage of visitors, like me (and Clark) who could point out problems to them if there were some easy way to do so. They need an army of editors, and then some good volunteers (who they apparently have already) to implement the fixes.

On the positive side, the newer wing on commercial space, and New Mexico’s role in it, is good (even if there is a little too much NM hucksterism and exaggeration in it). I recommend seeing it, but take some of the displays with a grain (or large bag) of salt, particularly the ones written in present and future tense.

Administrative

Today’s X-Prize Press Conference

I was out at the press conference today, but I couldn’t get into the wireless network. My wireless widget in XP wanted a five or a thirteen-character code for the WEP, and the X-Prize folks issued a ten-character one. It steadfastly refused to accept it, or light up the second confirmation window, until I complied, which I couldn’t. Such is technology. Tomorrow, I’ll hook up my Linksys USB wireless dongle, which may have software for the twenty-first century.

Anyway, Clark Lindsey (with whom I carpooled out there today, after which we went to the space history museum in Alamagordo and then to White Sands Monument) has a lot of posts on the news conference (warning, not a permalink–there were too many links–just scroll, or in the future, use the Wayback Machine), and Alan Boyle has a story specifically on the teachers-in-space announcement.

My thoughts, before bed?

The new Rocketplane design looks good, but it seems to me now that the real barrier is financial. Though they didn’t say at the press conference, the rumor is that they need a lot of money to complete it, and they don’t have it. The time constant for first flight test of a suborbital vehicle seems to remain two years. Leonard David has more details.

Rocket Racing League seems much more encouraging. They now have the minimum six teams required, and they have a vehicle which flew three times yesterday in Mojave. I suspect that it will be flown publicly before the end of the year. I think that sponsorships will appear more quickly now.

I had one question of Granger–how long will this be a race purely of pilot skill? When will we see a competition of hardware? His answer: at least three years. In my follow up, he said that eventually he would be going to a formula, but that we needed to get some experience and understand the nature of the sport better. I hope that this will happen sooner rather than later, because I think that the technology will advance much more rapidly from this activity when we have not just competing pilots, but competing designs.

Administrative

Today’s X-Prize Press Conference

I was out at the press conference today, but I couldn’t get into the wireless network. My wireless widget in XP wanted a five or a thirteen-character code for the WEP, and the X-Prize folks issued a ten-character one. It steadfastly refused to accept it, or light up the second confirmation window, until I complied, which I couldn’t. Such is technology. Tomorrow, I’ll hook up my Linksys USB wireless dongle, which may have software for the twenty-first century.

Anyway, Clark Lindsey (with whom I carpooled out there today, after which we went to the space history museum in Alamagordo and then to White Sands Monument) has a lot of posts on the news conference (warning, not a permalink–there were too many links–just scroll, or in the future, use the Wayback Machine), and Alan Boyle has a story specifically on the teachers-in-space announcement.

My thoughts, before bed?

The new Rocketplane design looks good, but it seems to me now that the real barrier is financial. Though they didn’t say at the press conference, the rumor is that they need a lot of money to complete it, and they don’t have it. The time constant for first flight test of a suborbital vehicle seems to remain two years. Leonard David has more details.

Rocket Racing League seems much more encouraging. They now have the minimum six teams required, and they have a vehicle which flew three times yesterday in Mojave. I suspect that it will be flown publicly before the end of the year. I think that sponsorships will appear more quickly now.

I had one question of Granger–how long will this be a race purely of pilot skill? When will we see a competition of hardware? His answer: at least three years. In my follow up, he said that eventually he would be going to a formula, but that we needed to get some experience and understand the nature of the sport better. I hope that this will happen sooner rather than later, because I think that the technology will advance much more rapidly from this activity when we have not just competing pilots, but competing designs.

Administrative

Today’s X-Prize Press Conference

I was out at the press conference today, but I couldn’t get into the wireless network. My wireless widget in XP wanted a five or a thirteen-character code for the WEP, and the X-Prize folks issued a ten-character one. It steadfastly refused to accept it, or light up the second confirmation window, until I complied, which I couldn’t. Such is technology. Tomorrow, I’ll hook up my Linksys USB wireless dongle, which may have software for the twenty-first century.

Anyway, Clark Lindsey (with whom I carpooled out there today, after which we went to the space history museum in Alamagordo and then to White Sands Monument) has a lot of posts on the news conference (warning, not a permalink–there were too many links–just scroll, or in the future, use the Wayback Machine), and Alan Boyle has a story specifically on the teachers-in-space announcement.

My thoughts, before bed?

The new Rocketplane design looks good, but it seems to me now that the real barrier is financial. Though they didn’t say at the press conference, the rumor is that they need a lot of money to complete it, and they don’t have it. The time constant for first flight test of a suborbital vehicle seems to remain two years. Leonard David has more details.

Rocket Racing League seems much more encouraging. They now have the minimum six teams required, and they have a vehicle which flew three times yesterday in Mojave. I suspect that it will be flown publicly before the end of the year. I think that sponsorships will appear more quickly now.

I had one question of Granger–how long will this be a race purely of pilot skill? When will we see a competition of hardware? His answer: at least three years. In my follow up, he said that eventually he would be going to a formula, but that we needed to get some experience and understand the nature of the sport better. I hope that this will happen sooner rather than later, because I think that the technology will advance much more rapidly from this activity when we have not just competing pilots, but competing designs.

Space

Symposium Overview

Just a few hours after the end of it, Alan Boyle (who was too burned out to have dinner with me, Jeff Foust, and Clark Lindsey this evening) has a good wrap up of the event.

Off to Holloman in the morning for a pre-Cup press activity.

[Update a little after 10 Mountain time]

Alan also has a report on the hurdles ahead for the Spaceport America.

Space

Now This Is A Prize

Bob Bigelow (who is not in attendance at this Personal Spaceflight Symposium) is apparently offering three quarters of a billion dollars for a launch contract:

The contract or purchase agreement would be worth $760 million in total for eight launches. To show that Bigelow Aerospace is serious, it will deposit $100 million in an escrow bank account up front if the plan goes forward.

The potential offer tops the $500 million NASA has budgeted for its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, which is part of the agency’s own effort to spur development of commercial orbital crew launch capabilities.

Sounds like he’s finally starting to get serious about solving the launch problem.

[Update a few minutes later]

I find the timing of this announcement interesting. I doubt that it’s a coincidence that he decided to do it the same week that NASA issued an announcement for a COTS recompetition.

If one believes that one of the reasons that RpK had trouble closing their financing was because people didn’t believe that the NASA market could be counted upon, this provides a useful secondary (or even primary) market to help make the business case. Perhaps it was his intention to help the COTS competitors get their financing lined up.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!