| Author | Message | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Intermediate Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 2487 Registered: 2-2001 |
Arlie, did he mention anything about Vulcans or Klingons ?  Just teasing LOL | ||
| Horsefly (Arlie)
Intermediate Member Username: Arlie Post Number: 1096 Registered: 5-2002 |
William, that military guy did not ACTUALLY reveal any big secrets. He merely said that he had seen many things that would "blow your mind". He didn't get specific. His general consensus was that the "government" has technologies under wraps that are far and above what is out in the open. | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Intermediate Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 2486 Registered: 2-2001 |
Looks like I'm involved in the X prize as well since i'm a shareholder in a Co in the competition Nikolai SIkorsky, Igor's son, is practically my Uncle & he often tells me how his father used to describe the early days of flight to him. This reminds me of that. Seems back in the early 20th C Paris was THE place to be if you were a serious aeronaut. All pilots were self taught of course and only those who survived their inventions got to go to Paris | ||
| Bob Campen (Bob308gts)
Member Username: Bob308gts Post Number: 529 Registered: 9-2001 |
Bob Norwood is involved with John Carmacs X Prize project John said he has put about a Mil. of his own money in this, but then mentioned he had about 700 K in his F50 so he has blown a lot of $ elsewhere. | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Intermediate Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 2484 Registered: 2-2001 |
Norwood is building engines for Rutan ? or something else ? Maybe they'll reciprocate & give him a rocket motor for a Ferrari | ||
| Bob Campen (Bob308gts)
Member Username: Bob308gts Post Number: 528 Registered: 9-2001 |
The current Wired has a good article on this, focused on Carmacs group BTW Bob Norwood is involved with John in this project | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Intermediate Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 2483 Registered: 2-2001 |
a Military Intelligence guy sent you an e-mail about Top Secret stuff ?? That sounds rather odd | ||
| Horsefly (Arlie)
Intermediate Member Username: Arlie Post Number: 1087 Registered: 5-2002 |
Rather hard to get excited about fire belching liquid fuel rockets riding aloft on columns of fire when you KNOW there are things under wraps that make these rockets look like dinosaurs. I received an e-mail from a former military intelligence guy one time. He said that he had seen things that would "blow your mind", as he put it. A conventional rocket powered craft may be a signifigant accomplishment for private industry, but technologically speaking, it's about as exciting as the kid next door building a hovercraft out of a lawn mower engine. Interesting, but nothing truely revolutionary. | ||
| James P. Smith (Tigermilk)
Junior Member Username: Tigermilk Post Number: 128 Registered: 7-2001 |
William, the "lifeboat" was the X-38, which is being closed out. All work is supposed to stop on it at the end of this month. I work in the structures group and did plenty of analysis on it. It was successfully static tested last fall for launch and entry loads. There was a goal of having almost all the stress analysis completed in case it's ever taken out of mothball status in the future. This would quicken the startup. However, the 107 accident put the kaibosh on that. Many of the folks doing CAD and analysis closeout work were moved over to accident investigation stuff. Regarding the infinite wisdom of canceling, that program was WAY behind schedule. I was cleaning out my office yesterday and came across some old stuff. It was a bit spooky that I actually started working on X-35/X-CRV in late '95. It was supposed to be flown by '98. Predictions of an overly enthusiastic program manager. BTW, it was originally called X-35 but the USAF came in and took that designation away - thus X-38. I spent last fall at MIT and while there took a course in the Sloan school. It was there I realized NASA is no worse than any other private company. Only about 10% of programs survive in the "real world" due to schedule, cost, lack of market, or some other reason. We just don't hear about them. Haven't read the book you mentioned. Regarding space travel, I'm not such a big fan of human exploration, but I get really jazzed about robotic missions. Landing on Mars is fascinating. I don't think it's prudent for the country to send humans due to the financial cost and little perceived gain. Sending robots is cheaper and provides great scientific value. For 2004, I haven't even thought about it. NASA seems to get lukewarm support from every administration. It doesn't have the polarizing effect like the Defense Department does when it comes to budget. But the lack of direction from the executive branch also stymies the future planning of space flight. | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Intermediate Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 2482 Registered: 2-2001 |
James who do you see as the 2004 pres candidate who is most friendly towards NASA ? | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Intermediate Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 2481 Registered: 2-2001 |
James, have you read MINING THE SKY by John Lewis ? Its an awesome book about mining the asteroids. I'm really excited about that, Hope i live long enough to see it happen. i have several 1,000 shares of Space Dev which is about $0.40 right now Just waiting for it to take off Some Day!!!! It really amazes me that people can whine about "Scarcity of resources" when we live in a solar system vast in material & energy wealth | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Intermediate Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 2480 Registered: 2-2001 |
Any chance the VentureStar will get restarted ? How about the ISS lifeboat which seems to have been stillborn ? I cant believe how stupid the govt is to axe that so the ISS can only be crewed by 3 when it was designed to hold 6. Stupid!!!!! Its really depressing how uneducated most people are about space exploration | ||
| James P. Smith (Tigermilk)
Junior Member Username: Tigermilk Post Number: 127 Registered: 7-2001 |
We (NASA) are already working on something for those aging shuttles - OSP. Granted studies like this have been done in the past but hopefully this time it will stick. The Shuttle fleet is already well past its intended lifetime. | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Intermediate Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 2479 Registered: 2-2001 |
54 miles is just the begining Its a prototype. Maybe in less than 20 years if all goes well we'll see a bus size private rocket that can carry cargo or passengers for a lot less than NASA's aging shuttles | ||
| James P. Smith (Tigermilk)
Junior Member Username: Tigermilk Post Number: 125 Registered: 7-2001 |
I'm not too excited. I believe I read the vehicle will go into a 54 mile sub-orbital trajectory - enough for whomever is inside to be called an astronaut (anyone going up 50 miles is awarded that honor), but well short of practical use. I was out at Dryden/Edwards/Mojave a few years ago working on X-38 flight tests. Went out to Scaled for a design review and while there got a tour of the manufacturing facility. One area was covered off and I was told the were working on a secret project. I presume this was the one. I wish Rutan all the luck; he certainly has talent. My grandfather was a designer/aviator who set several aviation records and some were later beaten by the Rutan brothers. | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Intermediate Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 2477 Registered: 2-2001 |
Here we go again but with a link this time. This is SO COOL!!!!!!!! Cant wait to see this puppy fly http://www.spacedev.com/newsite/templates/subpage3_article.php?pid=411 |