We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Yep, I know it was supported by taxpayers’ money (boo, hiss) but I think one would have a piece of brain missing not to feel a pang of sadness that Concorde, the world’s only supersonic jet airliner, has landed for the last time at Britain’s Heathrow airport. An incredible plane, beautiful and able to take folk across the Atlantic at a speed unthinkable to our ancestors.
As a free marketeer, I do of course recognise that state-backed endeavours such as this are largely indefensible, particularly as only the rich could take advantage of something paid for by the poorest taxpayer. But on a more upbeat note, let’s hope that in the years to come, the possibility of superfast transport such as this remains a reality, and not just the stuff of science fiction novels.
And that is why, like Dale Amon and other contributors to this blog, I am eagerly awaiting the start of the race for the X-:Prize. You can read about all the privately-funded space ventures involved here
The age of Concorde is over. But another age may hopefully be about to begin. Chocks away!
Here is an interesting bit of development work being let by the DOD which I found while reading through a list of contracts:
United Technology Corp., West Palm Beach, Fla., is being awarded a $49,405,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for research and development for the Robust Scramjet. The Air Force will issue delivery orders totaling up to the maximum amount indicated above, though actual requirements may necessitate less than this amount. At this time, $220,000 of the funds has been obligated. Further funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. This work will be complete by September 2010. Solicitation began April 2003, and negotiations were completed September 2003. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33615-03-D-2418).
A SCRAMjet is a Supersonic Combustion Ram jet, an engine which is of use only for hypersonic speeds. It would needed for missiles or near-suborbital warcraft.
PS: For those not familiar with the space community, the Air Force Research Lab at Wright Patterson (AFRL-WPAFB) is where very interesting future-looking propulsion systems work is done. If you want to talk about things like antimatter engine design, these are the lads.
H. R. 3245, a bill to streamline the regulatory framework under which the new suborbital tourist business will operate, has been submitted to Congress by Dana Rohrabacher (R-Ca).
Dana has a somewhat libertarian background (or so I was told by a staffer of his from early days) but has become more a conservative Republican over the years. He still shares many ideals with us. He is also one of the few who actively support commercial space development. This is not to say it is opposed by many; most in Congress don’t particularly give a damn.
You can read the bill here, but this summarizes it nicely:
The Secretary of Transportation shall take appropriate efforts, including realignment of personnel and resources, to create a streamlined, cost-effective, and enabling regulatory framework for the United States commercial human spaceflight industry. The Secretary of Transportation shall clearly distinguish the Department’s regulation of air commerce from its regulation of commercial human spaceflight, and focus the Department’s regulation of commercial human spaceflight activities on protecting the safety of the general public, while allowing spaceflight participants who have been trained and meet license-specific standards to assume an informed level of risk. Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall transmit to the Congress a report on the progress made in implementing this section.
If you are in the US, you may want to encourage your congresscritter to support it. The bill has inputs from many in the commercial space advocacy community, Among them are a number who actually run the small companies who will be most liberated by a simpler and clearer regulatory framework.
We might wish for a zero regulation policy, but that is not the world we are living in. Still, we can push legislation in the direction of clarity and minimalism.
China has successfully launched Taikonaut Yang Liwei into low Earth orbit (LEO).
Buzz Aldrin thinks the Chinese could launch a circumlunar flight in a few years using a modified Shenzhou.
I’ve been watching the slow moving Chinese program for a very long time. They are the tortoise to the American hare. They are not intent on spending the next four decades in LEO with the other two go-nowhere space-faring governments.
We must remember the hardware that put Buzz Aldrin on the moon is forty year old technology. The ‘computer’ in Apollo capsules couldn’t even match the calculation abilities of a cheap 21st century wristwatch. The lunar orbit rendezvous which created the need for Von Braun’s giant Saturn V was not the best way to go to the moon even then. It was merely the quickest, most brute force method. Future lunar visits, whether by governments or tourist flights, will use Earth orbit rendezvous – something which can be done with existing launch vehicles.
All else being equal, the next footprint on the moon will be Chinese. With a bit of good luck they may arrive before 2020. That would be just in time to see the last traces of the American footprints fading into the lunar soil after half a century of wild lunar day and night temperature swings.
Of course all else is not equal. The dawn of commercial space tourism in entrepreneur built spaceships is not far off.
I’d love to be among the lunar tourists waiting to congratulate the Chinese on their arrival.
Scaled Composites has carried out the third drop test of SpaceShipOne and moves ever closer to the first private manned suborbital flight. The test objectives were:
Aft CG flying qualities and performance evaluation of the space ship in both the glide and re-entry or “feather” mode. Glide envelope expansion to 95% airspeed, 100% alpha and beta and 70% loadfactor. More aggressive post stall maneuvering and spin control as a glider and while feathered. Nitrous temperature control during climb to altitude and performance of upgraded landing gear extension mechanism and space-worthy gear doors.
These were mostly met, but the flight uncovered some minor control problems:
Launch conditions were 46,800 feet and 115 knots and produced a clean separation. First stall entry maneuver resulted in an un-commanded nose rise before reaching the wing stall angle of attack. Lateral/directional controls were used in conjunction with forward stick to effect recovery. This aft-cg stall characteristic was worse than predicted and will likely require aero modifications to fix. The feather entry was not explored and the rest of the glide flight used to assess the handling qualities of the vehicle leading to an uneventful landing. The White Knight’s heating system was able to keep the Spaceship’s nitrous oxidizer conditioned during climb, such that the maximum N2O pressure variation was less than 6 psi.
This is not unusual for a test flight. After all, that is why they are called test flights! One of the beauties of composite airframes is that even major changes can be made relatively easily. When I visited the Rutan facility it was pointed out to me how Rutan and his merry band had modified the tail of one aircraft with a chainsaw. After cutting out the bits they didn’t like, they laid up a replacement structure.
Since the main engine has been undergoing tests and SpaceShipOne seems well along on glide trials, it really may come down to whether the government approvals come through in time for the Wright Anniversary date.
Credit for my tour goes to Jeff Greason. This was long before the blog, back when he and Rand Simberg worked for Gary Hudsen’s Rotary Rocket and I showed up at the Mojave Civilian Test Flight Facility and bothered them for a day. Perhaps someday I’ll find an excuse to do a pictorial on the place as I’ve several rolls of film from the visit.
It is perhaps only a matter of weeks now before the Chinese become the third government with proven manned orbital capabilities. This article by Len David (with quotes from sci.space alumnus Jon McDowell) summarizes their current status. It also contains a discussion of the Chinese government’s plans for going beyond LEO (Low Earth Orbit).
I’m sure we’ve got a few closet Martians out there. You know who you are. Last month during the opposition were you standing out in the back garden every night staring up at that bright red dot with something akin to homesickness? Then have I got the t-shirt for you! This new fashion delight from Kim Poor is just the ticket!
Also, Kim’s a great guy and has a lot of other fine space art on sale. It’s worth a click or two just to see the artwork.
There seems to be a lot more information floating about now than there was last week. The first Chinese orbital flight might come as soon as October 1st, but probably not until mid month.
You may remember I suggested the Chinese will aim for the moon within a few decades. I’m not a lone voice: here is what Space.com has to say:
Although tight-lipped on a range of technical details, Chinese space officials have hinted at a multi-pronged human spaceflight program, including space station construction, as well as eventual travel to the Moon, all by 2020.
I’ve some friends that hope to be able to offer them a hotel room with a nice Mare view by that time.
In a recent Boeing and USAF test, a B2 bomber dropped 80 bombs in 22 seconds… and hit 80 different targets. They call it revolutionary. I call it awesome to the point of being scary.
Perhaps in a future war we’ll only need two very large bombers. One as a backup for maintenance downtime… and the other to make a single war-ending zig-zag pass over enemy territory.
The Galileo space probe yesterday concluded its mission by entering the Jovian atmosphere and disintegrating at 1957 hours GMT. During its 14 year mission, Galileo sent back more than 14000 images, and highlights of the mission involved watching a comet crash into Jupiter and finding evidence of large oceans under the ice of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
Galileo really tested the ingenuity of the people controlling the mission at JPL, who firstly had to figure out a way for the probe to reach Jupiter despite having to use a much less powerful rocket to launch it from the space shuttle than originally intended, and then later to find a way for it to complete its mission despite the failure of its high gain antenna, meaning that data could only be transmitted at a much lower rate than originally intended.
However, ways were found, and Galileo ended up being an utterly magnificent success. We criticise the present form of NASA a lot, usually with good reason, but this mission is one that was ultimately got right. To everyone connected with it, might I offer a hearty “well done”. I’ll miss watching the photos and data come in.
There are reports China may launch its’ first manned spacecraft by as early as October 15th.
I fully expect the general media will not consider it a major story. They will be wrong. China is not going to park in Earth orbit for three decades like we have. Western complacency is up for a serious butt-kick. China is going to aim for the moon as soon as they can concievably do so.
Before you complain about how far behind their technology is, please note it is not technology that has kept us from colonizing the solar system the last thirty years. It is the iron triangle which has kept us here: NASA, Big Aerospace and Congress. Congress primarily looks on space as pork for the re-election. Big Aerospace sees it as a feeding trough. NASA chiefs see it as a means of turf expansion.
The whole system is bloated and risk averse. Getting people into space is a side issue from what really matters. Congress runs taxpayer funds through as many districts as possible. The government contractors want the most profit for the least possible amount of deliverables. NASA top management wants to minimize the risk of adverse media attention to their careers.
The end result is… three decades of next to nothing for our money but paper spaceships and imaginary engines.
Don’t tell me that NASA isn’t risk averse just because the bureaucracy missed a problem and lost a shuttle. We’ve lost fourteen men and women in spaceflight and three more on the pad in four decades of manned spaceflight. More aviators than that died in almost every single year at the dawn of flight whose centenary is but three months away. Individuals can accept risk and push boundaries forward rapidly; democratic governments cannot.
This is why the answer to the Chinese is not NASA and the Ministries of Aircraft Production (ie Lockmart and Boeing); it’s XCOR, Armadillo Aerospace, Scaled Composites, Bigelow Aerospace, TransOrbital and the rest of the small and the innovative. The ones who are ready to put their own lives and fortunes on the line.
As Ben Bova said many years ago: “The Meek shall inherit the Earth. The rest of us will have left for the stars.”
I’ve not been writing about XCOR lately as there has not been much I feel at liberty to write about. There has not been a press release from them since July. So… I rang the CEO, an old friend from sci.space days. I caught him in DC where he is no doubt carrying out obeisance and sacrificing a fatted calf or his first born to the God of Paperwork.
Mojave has submitted its application to be a launch site.
XCOR has submitted its launch license paperwork.
I would say both are fairly good news. It certainly makes for convenience if the Mojave Civilian Flight Test Center adds spaceship testing to its’ approvals. Both Scaled Composites and XCOR are based there.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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