Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne

SpaceShipOne is a spaceplane that completed the first privately funded human spaceflight on June 21, 2004. It was developed by Scaled Composites.

SpaceShipOne was an experimental air-launched suborbital spaceplane that used a hybrid rocket motor. The design featured a unique "feathering" reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folded upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increased drag while remaining stable. The achievements of SpaceShipOne are more comparable to the X-15 than orbiting spacecraft like the Space Shuttle. Accelerating a spacecraft to orbital speed requires more than 60 times as much energy as lifting it to 100 km. [ [http://www.wired.com/science/space/magazine/15-06/ff_space_musk?currentPage=3 Elon Musk Is Betting His Fortune on a Mission Beyond Earth's Orbit ] ]

SpaceShipOne was developed by Mojave Aerospace Ventures (A joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company, in their Tier One program), without government funding. On June 21, 2004, it made the first privately funded human spaceflight, and on October 4, it won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE, by reaching 100 kilometers in altitude twice in a two-week period with the equivalent of three people on board, with no more than ten percent of the non-fuel weight of the spacecraft replaced between flights. Development costs were estimated to be $25 million, funded completely by Paul Allen.

During its testing regimen, SpaceShipOne set a number of important "firsts", including first privately funded aircraft to exceed Mach 2 and Mach 3, first privately funded manned spacecraft to exceed 100km altitude, and first privately funded reusable manned spacecraft.

A common misattribution to SpaceShipOne is the first privately funded spacecraft, without qualifying it as manned. Prior unmanned privately funded space flights were successfully achieved by the Orbital Sciences Pegasus since 1990 and the Civilian Space eXploration Team 5 weeks earlier in May 2004. Scaled is also the subcontractor to Orbital Sciences who builds the composite wings and fins of their Pegasus rockets.

History

SpaceShipOne is registered with the FAA as Airreg|N|328KF. 'N' is the prefix for US-registered aircraft; '328KF' was chosen by Scaled Composites to stand for 328 kilo feet (about 100 kilometers), the officially designated edge of space. The original choice of registry number, N100KM, was already taken. N328KF is registered as a glider, reflecting the fact that most of its independent flight is unpowered.

SpaceShipOne's first flight, 01C, was an unmanned captive carry flight test on May 20 2003. Glide tests followed, starting with flight 03G on August 7, 2003. Its first powered flight, flight 11P, was made on December 17, 2003, the 100th anniversary of the first powered flight.

On April 1, 2004, Scaled Composites received the first license for sub-orbital rocket flights to be issued by the US Department of Transportation. This license permitted the company to conduct powered test flights over the course of one year. On June 17, 2004, Mojave Airport reclassified itself (part-time) as the Mojave Spaceport.

Flight 15P on June 21, 2004, was SpaceShipOne's first spaceflight, and the first privately funded human spaceflight. Ansari X PRIZE flights followed, with flight 17P on October 4, 2004, winning the prize.

Retirement

SpaceShipOne's spaceflights were watched by large crowds at Mojave Spaceport. A fourth suborbital flight, Flight 18P, was originally scheduled for October 13, 2004. However, Burt Rutan decided not to risk damage to the historic craft, and cancelled it and all future flights.

On July 25, 2005 SpaceShipOne was taken to the Oshkosh Airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After the airshow, Mike Melvill and crew flew the White Knight, carrying SpaceShipOne, to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, where Mike spoke to a group of about 300 military and civilian personnel. Later in the evening, Mike gave a presentation at the Dayton Engineers Club, entitled "Some Experiments in Space Flight", in honor of Wilbur Wright's now famous presentation to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1901 entitled "Some Experiments in Flight." The White Knight then transported SpaceShipOne to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum to be put on display. It was unveiled on Wednesday October 5, 2005 in the Milestones of Flight gallery and is now on display to the public in the main atrium between the Spirit of St. Louis and the Bell X-1.

SpaceShipOne became a popular model rocket in 2004. Estes Industries currently offers several flying model rockets of SpaceShipOne. A piece of SpaceShipOne's carbon fiber material was launched aboard the New Horizons mission to Pluto in 2006. [cite news | title=Pluto Mission to Carry Piece of SpaceShipOne | date=December 20, 2005 | publisher=Space.com|url=http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html ]

Replica

A year after its appearance in the Oshkosh Airventure airshow, the Experimental Aircraft Association featured a full-scale replica of the spacecraft in a wing of its museum which housed other creations of Burt Rutan. Using the same fiberglass molds as the original, it was so exact in its replication - despite not having any doors or interior - that it was dubbed "Serial 2 Scaled" by Scaled Composites. Each and every painstaking detail in its appearance was matched, down to the N328KF serial number on its fuselage. It is so precise that, during a video presentation held every hour in the museum, it can display the two different modes of its 'feathering' ability, albeit through the aid of pulleys and wires (there is no internal machinery in the replica). cite web |url=http://www.airventuremuseum.org/collection/aircraft/SpaceShipOne.asp |title=SpaceShipOne |accessdate=2008-06-21 |date=29 July 2005 |author=Jeff Hecht |publisher=New Scientist ]

Future efforts

The development of a larger, more powerful space plane capable of reaching 120km was announced in 2004. It will be named Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo, and is currently under development by The Spaceship Company, a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, as part of the Tier 1b program. The Virgin Galactic spaceliner plans to operate a fleet of five of these craft in passenger-carrying private spaceflight service starting in late 2009. [cite web |url=http://www.space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_070226.html |title=Virgin Galactic Spaceliner Steps Forward |accessdate=2007-04-06 |author=Leonard David |publisher=Space News ] cite web |url=http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn7747 |title=Space tourism company to fly in 2008 |accessdate=2007-04-06 |publisher=AirVenture Museum ]

The vehicle itself will not be unveiled to the public until just before flight testing starts, expected in early 2008. Following a series of 50 – 100 test flights, the first paying customers are expected to fly aboard the craft in late 2009.cite web |url=http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=157540&threshold=1&commentsort=5&tid=160&mode=nested&cid=13205378 |title=Notes on Rutan presentations at EAA Oshkosh |accessdate=2007-04-06 |date=July 30 2006 |author=jnhtx (87543) |publisher=Slashdot ] In August 2005, Virgin Galactic stated that if the upcoming suborbital service with SpaceShipTwo is successful, the follow-up SpaceShipThree will be an orbital craft.cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2005/08/23/Navigation/200/201097/SpaceShipThree+poised+to+follow+if+SS2+succeeds.html |title=SpaceShipThree poised to follow if SS2 succeeds |accessdate=2007-04-06 |date=23 August 2005 |publisher=Flight International ]

Flights

All of the flights of SpaceShipOne were from the Mojave Airport Civilian Flight Test Center. Flights were numbered, starting with flight 01 on May 20 2003. One or two letters are appended to the number to indicate the type of mission. An appended C indicates that the flight was a captive carry, G indicates an unpowered glide, and P indicates a powered flight. If the actual flight differs in category from the intended flight, two letters are appended: the first indicating the intended mission and the second the mission actually performed.

In the table below, the "top speed" reported is the Mach number at burn-out (the end of the rocket burn). This is not an absolute speed.

The flights were accompanied by two chase planes; an Extra 300 owned and flown by Chuck Coleman, and a Beechcraft Starship [http://www.devsite.org/lab/spaceshipone/data.shtml] .

Astronauts

The SpaceShipOne pilots came from a variety of aerospace backgrounds. Mike Melvill is a test pilot, Brian Binnie was a Navy pilot, and Doug Shane and Peter Siebold are engineers at Scaled Composites. They qualified to fly SpaceShipOne by training on the Tier One flight simulator and in White Knight and other Scaled Composites aircraft.

pecifications

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?= plane
jet or prop?= jet
ref=astronautix.com [cite web
url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/spaipone.htm
title=astronautix.com
last=
first=
date=
accessdate=
work=
publisher=]
crew=one, pilot
capacity=2 passengers
length main=16 ft 5 in
length alt=5 m
span main=16 ft 5 in
span alt=5 m
height main=
height alt=
area main=161.4 ft²
area alt=15 m²
airfoil=
empty weight main=2,640 lb
empty weight alt=1,200 kg
loaded weight main=7,920 lb
loaded weight alt=3,600 kg
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=
more general=I_sp: 250 s (2450 Ns/kg)
* Burn time: 87 seconds
* Aspect Ratio: 1.6

engine (jet)=N2O/HTPB SpaceDev
type of jet=Hybrid rocket motor
number of jets=1
thrust main=7,500 kgf
thrust alt=74 kN
thrust original=
afterburning thrust main=
afterburning thrust alt=

max speed main=Mach 3.09
max speed alt=2,170 mph, 3,518 km/h
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
range main=35 nm
range alt=40 mi, 65 km
ceiling main=367,360 ft
ceiling alt=112,000 m
climb rate main=82,000 ft/min
climb rate alt=416.6 m/s
loading main=49.07 lb/ft²
loading alt=240 kg/m²
thrust/weight=20
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
armament=
avionics=

References

External links

* [http://scaled.com/projects/tierone/index.htm Tier One home page] at Scaled Composites's website
** Flight profile [http://scaled.com/projects/tierone/data_sheets/PDF/SS1_flight_profile.pdf in PDF format] and [http://scaled.com/projects/tierone/data_sheets/html/images/lithograph---SS1_flight_profile.jpgin JPG format]
* [http://www.SpaceDev.com SpaceDev]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/events04/sci/spaceship1/nb_60km.ram SpaceShipOne video footage] of flight 14P
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=_YWrjWWC7EI Spaceship One music video]
* [http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040531/xprize.html "Private Craft to Shoot for Space" by Irene Mona Klotz, Discovery News]
* [http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697,64123,00.html Wired News: SpaceShipOne Back on Course]
* [http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=328KF&cmndfind.x=0&cmndfind.y=0 SpaceShipOne's FAA registration]
* [http://www.xprize.org The Ansari X PRIZE]
* [http://www.DesertTurtle.com SpaceShipOne documentary DVD - "Mojave Magic"]
** [http://www.DesertTurtle.com/Song.html Song "I Want To Go In A Space Ship" about SpaceShipOne from "Mojave Magic"]
** [http://www.DesertTurtle.com/Oshkosh.html Video of Burt Rutan singing the song at the 2005 Oshkosh airshow]

Related content

* List of spaceflights (2004)
*
* Space Ship One (album)