pocketmoon66
Newcomer
Here's why 
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/armadillo_crash_040810.html
Man's got to have a hobby!
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/armadillo_crash_040810.html
Man's got to have a hobby!
JC says “It’s a good thing Doom 3 is selling very well,â€
- Thread starter pocketmoon66
- Start date
Re: JC says “It’s a good thing Doom 3 is selling very well,
yeah maybe he stays a little longer with Id than planned
pocketmoon66 said:Here's why
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/armadillo_crash_040810.html
Man's got to have a hobby!
yeah maybe he stays a little longer with Id than planned
PC-Engine said:
To my knowledge, the rocket uses highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide as the fuel, pumping the liquid into contact with a catalyst that causes it to decompose explosively.
There's a sizeable amount of thrust that can be derived from this, and they may have opted for this fuel to simplify the fuel system and perhaps to run it a bit cooler. I have to read up to see their reasoning.
A major factor they cited was excessive fuel burn in startup along with some problems in flight, which exceeded their reserves despite having double the estimated amount needed. Also problematic was the decision to not add a rocket-drawn parachute, which could have saved the vehicle from destruction, even if the mission failed.
edit:
Here's a link to their post-mortem:
http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News?news_id=272
Lobivopsis
Newcomer
Once Scaled Composites entered the X-Prize race the winner was almost a forgone conclusion anyway. It's not like Armadillo (or anyone else) was going to be pulling ahead of them. Scaled has a fully working vehicle and has already scheduled their flights, barring the unlikely event of a crash and destruction of their vehicle they were already going to win even before Armadillo's unfortunate accident.
Just another reason to hate Micro$oft I guess. FYI Scaled is being funded by Paul Allen on this project, one day he decided "I'm going to buy the X-Prize" and then handed Scaled a fat wad of cash to build him a spaceship. I mean, couldn't he have built a Sphinx in his likeness or something? Why did he have to go ruin the X-Prize competition?
Just another reason to hate Micro$oft I guess. FYI Scaled is being funded by Paul Allen on this project, one day he decided "I'm going to buy the X-Prize" and then handed Scaled a fat wad of cash to build him a spaceship. I mean, couldn't he have built a Sphinx in his likeness or something? Why did he have to go ruin the X-Prize competition?
Lobivopsis said:Well, it's not like they were going to beat Scaled Composites to the X-Prize anyway
At this point they're just doing it to prove to themselves that they can and that would still be a great achievement.
It seems that they had planned for a VTOL test, but since they used too much fuel during preburn, there wasn't enough fuel left for a decelerated auto land. They destroyed a $35K rocket by not installing a relatively cheap cannon deployed parachute. :?
Anyway I think one of the reasons why they chose HTP fuel is because it's really cheap like only pennies per gallon and it's relatively safe.
From watching the helicopter parachute drop test, I still don't know if they're testing partial or full scale prototypes. It seemed kinda small and cramped but still big enough to fit three people inside the nose cone so I guess it could be full scale.
The other thing I'm still wondering is what their actual mission will consist of. Will they launch from the ground or from another vehicle like a helium balloon? Will they increase the size of the fuel tank? Will they need ceramic tiles on the capsule for protection upon re-entry? Will they have a 2nd backup parachute? The safety issue really concerns me.
Exactly, however keep in mind that $4.5 million has alrady been spent on the Canadian team's Wild Fire Mark VI. Does anyone know how much Paul Allen has spent in funding SS1?
Lobivopsis said:
You sound very bitter. Why is that?
Is there some rule he broke that said people that were once involved with Microsoft can't participate? I just don't understand your reasoning here. What's Paul done to you to make you so pissed at him?
Captain Chickenpants
Regular
Lobivopsis said:
Don't forget that the X-Prize is supposed to encourage commercial attempts at space flight. If people like Paul Allen, or JC aren't there to pony up the cash then it means that commercial space travel will take much longer to become a reality as there would be fewer people trying it.
I don't think the actual prize is the incentive to most of the participants, as for most teams it won't cover their costs.
The DaVinci team sounds like they have a shot if Scaled Composites don't manage it on their scheduled launch (although given how well prepared they are I don't see this happening).
CC
Anyway no one is hurt or anything. Basically they tried to warm up the engine to much, it went higher than expected and ran out of fuel so it fell down and went boom!.. Well actually it did not explode but it is still fairly dramatic. I wish I had that much money to waste Probably though in all honesty they are less than thrilled about it as well.
Since it has to do a powered landing it can only go so high. This time it went to fast and too high and therefore ran out before it could even start down. But as they said they would have had a big fine if they landed it b/c it would have been over the 15 seconds time limit...
Since it has to do a powered landing it can only go so high. This time it went to fast and too high and therefore ran out before it could even start down. But as they said they would have had a big fine if they landed it b/c it would have been over the 15 seconds time limit...
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