Category Space Ship One

Thermal and Radiation Protection

Because SpaceShipOne slowed down so quickly, it did not experience extreme temperatures very long. Therefore, thermal loads were much smaller than those faced by the Space Shuttle. SpaceShipOne required only a relatively simple thermal protection system (TPS). Its TPS design consisted of two main parts.

The first part was built in during the manufacture of the composites. When the composite skins for the areas that would experience high temperatures during reentry were constructed, instead of

epoxy, a phenolic resin was used with the carbon fiber. The temperature tolerance for these composites increased by 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

About 14 pounds (6.4 kilograms) of an approximately 0.035-inch – (0.09-centimeter-) thick ablative coating developed by Scaled Composites was added to 25 percent of the surface of SpaceShipOne as the second part of the TPS. Ablative coatings made of reinforced plastic have been around since the early space program. The ablative process reduces the temperature of a spacecraft’s surface that faces the airstream on reentry by absorbing some of the heat that is generated. The heat absorbed causes the ablative coating to burn free of the spacecraft, so, in effect, the coating carries away a portion of the heat when it flies off the spacecraft.

When the ablative coating burns, it undergoes a chemical reaction. The heat provides the energy needed for this chemical reaction to

Thermal and Radiation ProtectionПодпись:г ^

Fig. 4.20. Wax stripes were added to the various surfaces exposed to heating during reentry. These surfaces already had a red-colored coating that was part of the thermal protection system (TPS). Each colored wax stripe on the right wingtip, as shown here, melted at a different temperature. By studying the remaining wax after a flight, engineers could determine a heating profile. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, photograph by David M. Moore

V_____________________________________ J

occur. Therefore, the heat absorbed during the ablation process is heat that is no longer available to heat up SpaceShipOne. The abla­tive coating is then reapplied for the next spaceflight. Figure 4.20 shows the temperature effects on a wingtip and its colored wax test stripes.

Even in the worst-case scenario where the TPS was completely gone, the fuselage could have withstood the damage and returned the crew unharmed. Because of the short duration and relatively low altitude of the spaceflight, SpaceShipOne was not equipped with radiation shielding.

Back on Track (7G)

“A stall is when the air flowing over the wing no longer stays attached to the surface. It’s not developing any lift anymore. And as soon as it stalls, you are not an airplane anymore. You are just a 2,000-pound [910-kilogram] lump falling out of the sky,” Mike Melvill defined in Black Sky, the Discovery Channel documentary about SpaceShipOne.

For this flight, the only modifications to each tail boom were the addi­tions of the strake and flow fence. The enlargement of the horizontal stabilizers would wait until the next test flight. However, the new mod­ifications did improve the aerodynamics, and the uncommanded pitch-up of the nose at aft CG was eliminated. Melvill was able to then turn his attention to the feather and rocket-engine controls. Figure 7.8 shows the feather deployed as he continued to push maneuverability limitations.

After the functionality of the rocket-engine instruments and controls checked out, Melvill was ready to land. Figure 7.9 shows a view from the camera mounted in his helmet as SpaceShipOne neared the runway. The glide flight lasted 17 minutes and 49 seconds.

Back on Track (7G)

Ґ ^

Fig. 7.8. Several modifications were put in place to address the stall problem encountered in the previous flight, including the addition of a triangular strake mounted in front of each horizontal stabilizer and a flow fence attached midspan on each horizontal stabilizer. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, video capture provided courtesy of Discovery Channel and Vulcan Productions, Inc.

V___________________ J

г ^ ^

Back on Track (7G)Fig. 7.9. Flying the first six piloted flights, two captive carries, and four glide flights, Mike Melvill continued to expand the flight envelope. Step by step, he pushed SpaceShipOne to perform a little harder so the engineers could get a more complete picture of its flying qualities. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, video capture provided courtesy of Discovery Channel and Vulcan Productions, Inc.

V____________________________________________________________ )

Подпись: f Fig. 7.10. On November 14, 2003, Pete Siebold became the second test pilot to fly SpaceShipOne. The Scaled Composites team had to wear many hats. Siebold was also responsible for developing the software for the Tier One navigation unit (TONU) and flight simulator. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, video capture provided courtesy of Discovery Channel and Vulcan Productions, Inc. V .

Подпись:Подпись: Pilot/Flight Engineer Pete Siebold Brian Binnie/Matt Stinemetze

SpaceShipTwo and SpaceShipThree

Based on the design and trajectory of SpaceShipOne, now a proven space­ship, SpaceShipTwo takes advantage of the lessons learned while flying SpaceShipOne. Rutan stated his commitment to making it one hundred times safer than anything that has previously carried people to space.

On September 27, 2004, just days before the first Ansari X Prize flight attempt, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, founder ofVirgin Records and Virgin Atlantic, entered into an agreement with Paul Allen and Burt Rutan to build a fleet of SpaceShipTwos to be launched from carrier aircraft similar to White Knight. SpaceShipTwo is about three times the size of SpaceShipOne, and its carrier is as large as an airliner. Figure 10.6 shows a conceptual drawing of SpaceShipTwo and its carrier aircraft, and figure 10.7 shows a size comparison that includes SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo.

Branson formed the spaceline Virgin Galactic, in which he desig­nated the first SpaceShipTwo the Virgin Spaceship (VSS) Enterprise after Star Trek’s famed spaceship, and the carrier aircraft Eva after his mum. Virgin Galactic will pay $250 million for a fleet containing five

SpaceShipTwos and two White Knight Twos. True to Rutan fashion, the program to develop these aircraft, called Tier lb, is top secret.

The trajectory is a basic up and down, like SpaceShipOne s, but initial launches will likely take place where the carrier aircraft flies from Mojave out over the Pacific Ocean, as shown in figure 10.8. SpaceShipTwo then reenters the atmosphere after having reached a reported apogee of 84—87 miles (135—140 kilometers), whereas during SpaceShipOne’s final flight it hit 69.6 miles (112 kilometers), well above the Ansari X Prize limit of 62.1 miles (100 kilometers). Having a better glide range than its predecessor, SpaceShipTwo will take a scenic glide back to Mojave.

SpaceShipTwo will have two pilots and room for six passengers. The price for the 2.5-hour trip will be about $200,000 to start with, which includes an orientation flight where the passengers on deck get to watch an actual flight of SpaceShipTwo from the carrier aircraft. That hefty price tag will come down once the economy of scale and competition begin to take hold. Virgin Galactic released mockups of the interior in September 2006. As shown in figure 10.9, passengers

SpaceShipTwo and SpaceShipThree

ґ

Fig. 10.6. An early conceptual design of SpaceShipTwo and White Knight Two shows the similarities to their predecessors. However, SpaceShipTwo will be three times the size of SpaceShipOne and has a cabin the size of a Gulfstream 4 corporate jet while White Knight Two will be larger than a Boeing 757. Virgin Galactic’s initial fleet will include five SpaceShipTwos and two White Knight Twos. Courtesy ofVirgin Galactic

r _ Л

Fig. 10.7. At an initial price of $200,000, a ride on SpaceShipTwo will cost a lot of spacebucks. But when bicycles and automobiles were first invented, not many people could afford them. And when ocean liners started to sail and airliners started to fly, the tickets were well beyond the reach of most.

So, the ticket price of SpaceShipTwo is expected to drop substantially once competition between other spacelines takes hold and the space tourism industry begins to mature. Courtesy of Virgin Galactic

к )

 

Lunar Lander 29ft вігі

 

000000000

 

00000000000

 

poooooooooooo

 

000000000000000 0

 

000000000000000

 

Boeing 747 232ft;

 

Louis 27ft 7in

 

Wright Flyer 21ft lin

 

Icarus 6ft

 

SpaceShipTwo and SpaceShipThree

SpaceShipTwo and SpaceShipThree

ґ

Fig. 10.8. This conceptual diagram shows an early representation of SpaceShipTwo’s flight profile based on the flight profile of SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipTwo will be three times as large as its predecessor but will share many of the same design elements. Courtesy of Virgin Galactic

к______________________________________________________________________________________

will be able to release their seatbelts and float around inside the cabin during a weightlessness period of about four minutes.

The conceptual drawings and early flight specifications available to the public will undoubtedly differ a bit from the end results. The launch altitude of 60,000 feet (18,290 meters) that has been floating
around, for example, is a number that will likely come down. Just because the vehicles are larger and apogee is planned to be higher doesn’t necessarily mean everything else scales up, too. After all, SpaceShipOne was planned to launch at 50,000 feet (15,240 meters), dropped to 48,000 feet (14,630 meters), and then finally ended up

SpaceShipTwo and SpaceShipThree

ґ ; л

Fig. 10.9. A mockup of SpaceShipTwo’s cabin interior was revealed in 2006. Six passengers will ride to space, and when they get there, they will be able to unbuckle their seatbelts and float around the cabin to enjoy the weightlessness and the view. Courtesy of Virgin Galactic

V__________________________________________ J

at 47,000 feet (14,330 meters). To turn the corner with that big rocket engine blaring, SpaceShipTwo still needs air for the control surfaces to bite into, right? Will SpaceShipTwo even be mounted underneath the carrier aircraft, or will it ride on top like the Space Shuttle on a 747? Why risk your spaceship if your carrier aircraft has a landing gear failure? Why waste energy pulling downward away from the carrier aircraft during separation? However, a carrier aircraft could fly to a higher altitude in order to reduce the fuel requirements of a top-launching spacecraft if the carrier aircraft was able to pitch up and begin turning the corner for the spacecraft prior to separation.

SpaceShipTwo is set to fly passengers in the 2008—2009 time – frame. But before flight testing begins, SpaceShipTwo will be unveiled. SpaceShipThree will eventually follow. It will be the first of Rutan’s Tier Two vehicles, designed for Earth orbit. SpaceShipThree certainly has a model number by now.

Air and Electrical Power

Clean, dry air was used in the pneumatics to pressurize the actuators. The cabin was also pressurized with air. Each system had its own high-pressure bottle and a backup bottle. The feather, environmental control system (ECS), and reaction control system (RCS) each had a bottle A and bottle B. The initial pressure of these six bottles was 6,000 pounds per square inch (psi). Other systems also required pressurized air, but they fed off of these bottles. Electricity was provided by an array of lithium batteries.

SpaceShipOne was the first manned spacecraft to use a hybrid rocket engine, which is a cross between a liquid-fueled rocket engine and a solid – fueled rocket engine. Designed by Scaled Composites, it ran by using a combination of synthetic rubber and nitrous oxide. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, photograph by David M. Moore

A New Pilot Behind the Stick (8G)

Flying at 115 knots and 47,300 feet (14,420 meters), Pete Siebold detached from White Knight. Shown at the controls of SpaceShipOne in figure 7.10, Siebold became the second test pilot to fly SpaceShipOne. Mike Melvill had flown all the previous manned test flights.

Although SpaceShipOne’s performance was really starting to become dialed in, there was no shortage of work to do. Untested controls and the modified horizontal stabilizers needed evaluation— all this while Siebold learned how SpaceShipOne flew outside of the realm of the simulator. Figure 7.11 shows small strings attached to the horizontal stabilizer. With one free end, these strings helped the engineers identify how the air flowed over its surfaces.

Before Siebold completed the glide flight, he had to work on a new landing procedure that he and Binnie had been devising in order to improve reliability. “We had both very short, almost didn’t make it to the runway, and very long, almost off the end of the runway, landing excursions,” Doug Shane said.

Although SpaceShipOne glided okay, it didn’t have anywhere near the performance or control of a sailplane effortlessly gliding upward on the tops of thermals. The procedure involved overflying the run­way and hitting altitude waypoints while being able to accommodate coming into the approach too high or too low. After 19 minutes and 55 seconds in the air, SpaceShipOne landed at the intended aim-point.

Flight Test Log Excerpt for 8G

Date: 14 November 2003

SpaceShipOne White Knight

Objective: The fifth glide flight of SpaceShipOne. New pilot checkout flight. Stability and control testing with the new extended horizontal tails. Tests included stall performance at aft limit CG and evaluation of the increased pitch and roll control authority. Other objectives included additional testing of the motor controller (MCS) and handling qualities in feathered flight.

(source: Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, provided courtesy of Scaled Composites)

A New Pilot Behind the Stick (8G)

A New Pilot Behind the Stick (8G)r >

Fig. 7.11. During Pete Siebold’s first flight, he had to evaluate additional modifications to the horizontal

stabilizers put in place to rectify handling issues revealed two flights earlier. Small strings attached to the newly enlarged horizontal stabilizers were used to help analyze the air flow. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, video capture provided courtesy of Discovery Channel and Vulcan Productions, Inc.

г-

A New Pilot Behind the Stick (8G)A New Pilot Behind the Stick (8G)A New Pilot Behind the Stick (8G)Fig. 7.12. Mike Melvill returned to the pilot’s seat for the ninth flight, which was the sixth glide flight of SpaceShipOne. In the photograph, Melvill pulls a handle to his left to deploy the feather for additional evaluation. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, video capture provided courtesy of Discovery Channel and Vulcan Productions, Inc.

V______________________________________________________ ( ; ^

Fig. 7.13. An abort while fully fueled was a very big concern for Scaled Composites because

of the heavy weight for landing. Even when testing SpaceShipOne’s performance with ballast to more closely match the weight of a fully fueled rocket engine, it was necessary to dump the ballast prior to landing. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, video capture provided courtesy of Discovery Channel and Vulcan Productions, Inc.

V_________________________________________________ J f

Fig. 7.14. Among the biggest surprises to Scaled Composites was the difficultly of landing SpaceShipOne without undershooting or overshooting the runway. The test pilot had to manage the airspeed and altitude very carefully on approach to the runway for landing. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, video capture provided courtesy of Discovery Channel and Vulcan Productions, Inc.

A New Pilot Behind the Stick (8G)

Ґ

Flight Test Log Excerpt for 9G

Date: 19 November 2003

Flight Number Pilot/Flight Engineer

SpaceShipOne 9G Mike Melvill

White Knight 41L Brian Binnie/Cory Bird

Objective: The sixth glide flight of SpaceShipOne. Test pilot Mike Melvill’s first flight with the enlarged tails. Emergency aft CG handling qualities eval and simulated landing exercise with the new tail configuration. Airspeed and g envelope expansion and dynamic feather evaluation.

(source: Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, provided courtesy of Scaled Composites)

A New Pilot Behind the Stick (8G)

Two Last Flights for SpaceShipOne

Scaled Composites received about $25 million from Paul Allen for twenty tasks that Burt Rutan had specifically outlined, which covered
building SpaceShipOne all the way through competing with it. “Task 21 was that we would fly SpaceShipOne every Tuesday for five months, reasoning that if we did that you could then make with confidence a commercial business plan,” Rutan said.

But Task 21 wasn’t funded. Rutan figured that once he got the data on the real costs of flying SpaceShipOne, he would then approach Allen. “That would be the opportunity for Paul and me and both of our friends to be astronauts,” Rutan explained. “If you just count only the passengers, you’ve got forty-four people. So, maybe twenty of my friends could be astronauts and twenty of his friends could be astro­nauts. That would be kind of cool. That was the plan. But something got in the way of the plan. I underestimated the impact of SpaceShipOne on the media and the public, and I underestimated its effect on historians.”

Shortly after Melvill flew SpaceShipOne into space the first time, Rutan received a letter from Valerie Neal, the curator of post-Apollo human spaceflight for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. “It was clear to all of us right away once Mike Melvill had made the first flight in June that this was a remarkable achievement, whether or not it won the Ansar і X Prize,” Neal said.

Two Last Flights for SpaceShipOne
“We think that SpaceShipOne either itself may prove to be the pivotal craft that leads to a commercial spaceflight space-tourism industry, or it’s the leading edge of that. You know there are enough developments going on right now. It looks as if this is the cusp of a new revolution in spaceflight.”

So, the National Air and Space Museum expressed its interest in acquiring SpaceShipOne to join it with other remarkable vehicles in the Milestones of Flight gallery, which includes the original 1903 Wright Flyer, Spirit of St. Louis, and the Bell X-l that broke the sound barrier, Glamorous Glennis. But the National Air and

Ґ л

Two Last Flights for SpaceShipOne

Two Last Flights for SpaceShipOne

Fig. 10.11. When SpaceShipOne made it first spaceflight on June 21,2004, the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution immediately recognized the significance of the event. By becoming the first non­governmental, privately funded vehicle to reach space, SpaceShipOne earned a place in the Milestones of Flight gallery with the Spirit of St. Louis, Bell X-1, 1903 Wright Flyer, and Apollo 11 command module Columbia.

Courtesy of Virgin Galactic

Ґ Л

Fig. 10.10. On June 27, 2005, Burt and Tonya Rutan, in SpaceShipOne, and Mike and Sally Melvill, in White Knight, landed at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) 2005 AirVenture. An active EAA member, Burt Rutan introduced the VariViggen, the first aircraft he designed and built, at the 1972 AirVenture. Now he and Melvill, also a longtime EAA member, gave a special showing of SpaceShipOne and White Knight to many of their closest supporters. Tyson V. Rininger

V______________________________ J

Space Museum didn’t realize the extent to which Allen was involved. Rutan said that he would have to bring Allen into the dialog as well.

“So,” Neal recalled, “it was right at the end of November or early December when Allen and Rutan both said, ‘Yeah, we’re really interested

in donating this to the museum. Come on out and let’s talk and let’s have a look at it together.’”

Rutan had to face a tough decision. He explained, “When we got that request, Paul Allen called and said, ‘Listen, I don’t want you to fly it anymore. Just get the X Prize. Two more flights and

Two Last Flights for SpaceShipOne

Ґ

Fig. 10.12. Carrying a small piece of SpaceShipOne, the space probe New Horizons, launched in 2006, races to the edge of the Solar System. The first mission ever to the dwarf planet Pluto, it will arrive in 2015. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory-Southwest Research Institute

V______________________________________________________________________________

that’s it.’ We had three or four motors, so we could have easily flown one more flight. My first thought was to fight with him. I said, ‘No, you’ve got to prove a business plan. If this is going to go on to the next step, you got to do this.’ And then I realized that he really was right.”

Preserving the legacy was more important.

Valerie Neal recalled, “What I had asked Rutan to do before he delivered it to us was to return it to its June configuration. After that June flight, before the X Prize flights, quite a number of decals were added to it, and the Virgin Galactic logo was added to it. And the appearance was considerably different.”

Even the dent in the engine fairing from that flight was put back. That’s how seriously Scaled Composites took her request. So, right after SpaceShipOne was hung in the museum, the damage drew some quick notice. “The director of the museum came in and said, ‘I hope we didn’t do that last night.’ And I said, ‘No, no, it came that way,’” Neal said.

However, even before being transferred to the museum, Rutan wanted to fly White Knight and SpaceShipOne to Oshkosh. He wanted to do something special for the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), which had stood by him from the time of his very first aircraft. With Mike Melvill behind the stick of White Knight and SpaceShipOne attached below, he flew from Mojave but stopped right before reaching the air show in Madison, Wisconsin, to pick up some very important passengers. Burt Rutan and his wife, Tonya, climbed into SpaceShipOne, while Sally Melvill joined her husband in White Knight.

They touched down at Oshkosh on June 27, 2005. “It was very emotional because it was like a homecoming for the triumphant sol­dier,” said Tom Poberezny, president of EAA. “And here was Burt coming home to an audience that truly appreciated what he did because they’ve grown up with him. They’ve appreciated every design innovation he has ever done, his successes, his failures, his trials, his tribulations.”

Figure 10.10 shows the EAA crowd gathered around SpaceShipOne andWhite Knight.

When the air show ended, Melvill took off with a small crew to head for Dulles Airport in Washington, D. C., after first stopping over in Dayton, Ohio, the hometown of the Wright brothers. But the adventure was far from over. White Knight doesn’t have very long legs. Its range is only about 500 miles (800 kilometers). When it reached

Dulles Airport, someone must have noticed White Knight carrying a missile-like object. “So, they turned us around and drove us away right in the middle of the approach,” Mike Melvill said.

“I said, ‘If you turn us around, we will run out of gas.’ And the air – traffic controller said, ‘I don’t care. Make a one-eighty and get out of here. I don’t want to see you again.’ And I said, ‘You need to get your supervisor because this has all been pre-briefed.’ Pretty soon the airline guys on the same frequency were saying, ‘Hey, come on. This is the guy delivering SpaceShipOne to the National Air and Space Museum.’”

Even after arrangements had been made with the airport and with the officials from the National Air and Space Museum on the ground, Melvill was denied. But he could always be counted on when the situation did not go exactly as planned. With almost no gas, he was able to land on a runway that wasn’t being used by the airlines. After detaching SpaceShipOne from White Knight and spending about an hour on the ground, Melvill lifted off in White Knight. The mothership had left its baby for good. Figure 10.11 shows SpaceShipOne in the Milestones of Flight gallery after the donation ceremony on October 5, 2005, hanging next to Spirit of St. Louis and Glamorous Glennis.

Although SpaceShipOne’s mission was suborbital spaceflight, it was actually able to completely break away from Earth’s gravitational pull. In 2007, a small piece of SpaceShipOne, aboard the space probe New Horizons, zipped by Jupiter on its way to a rendezvous with Pluto and its moon Charon. It will then continue on further to the edge of the Solar System into the mysterious Kuiper Belt, a region of space responsible for the demotion of Pluto from a planet to a dwarf plan­et after the discovery of a tenth planet. Launched in 2006, this is the first mission aimed at exploring these celestial objects. Figure 10.10 shows a conceptual drawing of the space probe on its journey.

In June of 2015, New Horizons and the SpaceShipOne fragment will have completed the interplanetary cruise phase on the way to Pluto. Earth will be 3.06 billion miles (4.92 billion kilometers) away when the closest approach occurs. Eleven years earlier, to the month, SpaceShipOne had first entered space, giving real hope to those with dreams of floating free in space.

A character in Clarke’s 2010: Odyssey Two, in summarizing what he expected from an upcoming space trip, simply stated, “Something wonderful.” By the time New Horizons actually reaches Pluto, that phrase will be invoked many times thanks to the accomplishments of commercial space travel that are to come.

A: SpaceShipOne Flight Data

 

Date

Intended

Mission

SpaceShipOne

Flight Pilot/ Flight

Flight

No.<2)

Pilot

Flight

Time

{minutes}

Release

Altitude

(feet (meters)}

Release

Speed

{knots}

Top

Speed

{Mach}<b>

Rocket

Burn

{seconds}

Shutdown

Altitude

{feet (meters)}

Apogee

{feet (meters)}

Maximum

g-Force

{G}<b>

No.(2>

Flight

Engineer

1 ime

{hours}

5/20/03

Captive

Carry

01C

24C

Pete

Siebold/

Brian

Binnie

1.8

7/29/03

Captive

Carry

02C

Mike

Melvill

29C

Brian Binnie/ Cory Bird

2.1

8/7/03

Captive

Carry

03G

Mike

Melvill

19.00

47,000

(14,330)

105

30L

Brian Binnie/ Cory Bird

1.1

8/27/03

Glided)

04GC

Mike

Melvill

31LC

Brian Binnie/ Cory Bird

1.1

8/27/03

Glide

05G

Mike

Melvill

10.50

48,200

(14,690)

105

32L

Brian Binnie/ Cory Bird

1.1

9/23/03

Glide

06G

Mike

Melvill

12.25

46,800

(14,270)

115

37L

Pete

Siebold/

Matt

Stinemetze and Jeff Johnson

1.5

10/17/03

Glide

07G

Mike

Melvill

17.82

46,200

(14,080)

115

38L

Pete Siebold/ Cory Bird and David Moore

1.1

11/14/03

Glide

08G

Pete

Siebold

19.92

47,300

(14,420)

115

40L

Brian

Binnie/

Matt

Stinemetze

1.4

11/19/03

Glide

09G

Mike

Melvill

12.42

48,300

(14,720)

115

41L

Brian Binnie/ Cory Bird

2.1

12/4/03

Glide

10G

Brian

Binnie

13.23

48,400

(14,750)

115

42L

Pete

Siebold/

Matt

Stinemetze

1.3

12/17/03

Powered

11P

Brian

Binnie

18.17

47,900

(14,600)

112

1.2

15

(d)

67,800

(20,670)

3+

43L

Pete Siebold/ Cory Bird

1.2

3/11/04

Glide

12G

Pete

Siebold

18.50

48,500

(14,780)

125

49L

Brian

Binnie/

Matt

Stinemetze

1.3

4/8/04

Powered

13P

Pete

Siebold

16.45

45,600

(13,900)

125

1.6

40

(d)

105,000

(32,000)

(d)

53L

Brian

Binnie/

Matt

Stinemetze

1.3

5/13/04

Powered

14P

Mike

Melvill

20.73

46,000

(14,020)

120

2.5

55

150,000 (45,720)

211,400

(64,430)

3.5

56L

Brian

Binnie/

Matt

Stinemetze

1.5

6/21/04

Powered

15P

Mike

Melvill

24.08

47,000

(14,330)

(d)

2.9

76

180,000

(54,860)

328,491

(100,124)

5.0

60L

Brian

Binnie/

Matt

Stinemetze

1.6

9/29/04

Powered

16P

(XI)

Mike

Melvill

24.00

46,500

(14,170)

(d)

3.0

77

180,000

(54,860)

337,00

(102,900)

5.1

65L

Brian

Binnie/

Matt

Stinemetze

1.6

10/4/04

Powered

17P

(X2)

Brian

Binnie

24.00

47,000

(14,360)

(d)

3.25

84(e)

213,000

(64,920)

367,500

(112,00)

5.4

66L

Mike

Melvill/

Matt

Stinemetze

1.6

(a) C, G, L, and P denote captive carry, glide, launch, and powered, respectively, for the intended missions of SpaceShipOne and White Knight. A second letter in the flight number indicates the actual mission if different than the intended mission.

(b) The highest value is given whether occurring during boost or reentry.

(c) Flight aborted prior to SpaceShipOne separation from White Knight, so SpaceShipOne was not released.

(d) Data not reported in Combined White Knight/SpaceShipOne Flight Tests provided by Scaled Composites.

(e) The value of 84 seconds is used based upon the transcript of 17P.

 

Подпись: Appendices A & В

Two Last Flights for SpaceShipOne

В: Chase Plane Crews

Flight No.

Duchess: Low Altitude

Extra 300: High Altitude

Alpha Jet: High Altitude

Starship: High Altitude

01C

(a)

(a)

(a)

(a)

02 C

(a)

(a)

(a)

(b)

03G

(a)

(a)

(a)

(b)

04GC

Jon Karkow

Pete Siebold

05G

Jon Karkow

Pete Siebold

06G

Brian Binnie

Jon Karkow

07 G

Chuck Coleman

Brian Binnie

08G

Mike Melvill Chuck Coleman

Jon Karkow

09G

Chuck Coleman Matt Stinemetze

Pete Siebold

10G

Mike Melvill Chuck Coleman

Marc de van der Shueren Jeff Johnson

Jon Karkow

11P

Mike Melvill Chuck Coleman

Marc de van der Shueren Jeff Johnson

Jon Karkow

12G

Mike Melvill Chuck Coleman

Jon Karkow

13P

Mike Melvill Chuck Coleman

Marc de van der Shueren Jeff Johnson

Jon Karkow Robert Scherer

14P

Pete Siebold Dave Moore

Marc de van der Shueren Jeff Johnson

15P

Chuck Coleman Cory Bird

Marc de van der Shueren Jeff Johnson

Jon Karkow Robert Scherer

16P

Chuck Coleman Cory Bird

Marc de van der Shueren Jeff Johnson

Jon Karkow Robert Scherer

17P

Chuck Coleman Cory Bird

Marc de van der Shueren Jeff Johnson

Jon Karkow Robert Scherer

(a) Data not reported in SpaceShipOne/ White Knight Flight Log.

(b) The Starship, owned by Robert Scherer, was flown during this flight, but the crew was not reported.

SpaceShipOne Rocket-Engine Design

S

pacecraft have used both solid and liquid rockets, and in some cases both, to blast out of the atmosphere, into orbit, to the Moon, and out of the Solar System. The Space Shuttle, for example, uses two solid rocket boosters (SRB) mounted to the external tank (ET) and its three liquid-fueled main engines to reach orbit.

SpaceShipOne had a much different set of challenges to face, so its rocket engine had to be equally unique. There was no off-the-shelf rocket engine that Scaled Composites could simply install. Rutan had to design the rocket engine from scratch. It would be the first that Scaled Composites would have to build. Once the design was complete, Sealed Composites enlisted four subcontractors to provide the rocket-engine components that were not built in-house.

SpaceShipOne would be the first manned spacecraft to use a hybrid rocket engine. Figure 5.1 shows an external view of SpaceShipOne’s hybrid rocket engine.

The Rocket Engine

In 1999, Scaled Composites began researching rocket-engine technology. By January of 2000, it had not only identified the type of rocket engine and selected the propellants, but it had developed a new concept for its configuration.

SpaceShipOne Rocket-Engine Design

ґ

Fig. 5.1. A hybrid rocket engine offers advantages of both liquid-fueled and solid-fueled rocket engines. The rocket engine can be shut off at any time during the burn and can be constructed without complicated plumbing and pumps. The disadvantage, though, is that it has lower performance than the other two types. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, photograph by David M. Moore ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rutan believed that the highest risk of the program from the technical stance was the operation of the rocket engine. Reentry was dangerous, of course, but the “carefree” approach using the feather dramatically minimized this danger.

“I ruled out solids because I couldn’t do flight tests with them,” Rutan said. “I couldn’t do flight-test envelope expansion. I couldn’t do partial burns. Also, I knew that likely during a burn, I might be accelerating into a Mach number that I’d never been to. And I may not like it. I wanted to be able at any time to shut the motor off just like that.

“I ruled out liquids because they had a large number of failure points that were difficult to improve safely by making them all redundant. If you did, you ended up with a complex system, which historically has been shown to be less safe than not having the redundancy.”

A hybrid rocket engine fit Rutan’s requirements. It was very safe and very simple and very robust. Just as the name suggests, a hybrid
rocket engine is part liquid rocket engine (like the Space Shuttle’s main engines) and part solid rocket engine (like the Space Shuttle’s solid rocket boosters). Figure 5.2 shows the basic designs of liquid, solid, and hybrid rocket engines.

Essentially, a hybrid rocket engine is a tank that contains the liquid part and a motor that contains the solid part. Upon ignition, the liquid flows into the motor and out come the flames. It can be stopped instantly, unlike a solid, and its propellants are room temper­ature as opposed to cryogenic. However, there is a tradeoff. Hybrid rocket engines are typically less efficient than liquid or solid rocket engines. This means that for equal amounts of propellant by mass, hybrids deliver less thrust. But in the case of SpaceShipOne, the lower performance was acceptable.

“Would I use a hybrid motor to go to orbit? Probably not unless we could develop one that was close to the efficiency of the liquids,” Rutan said.

Liquid Rocket Engine

Fuel Pumps Throat

SpaceShipOne Rocket-Engine Design

Подпись:Oxidizer

Solid Rocket Engine

Flame Front Throat

 

Ґ — Л

Fig. 5.2. The main difference between liquid, solid, and hybrid rocket engines is the state of the fuel and oxidizer used. A liquid rocket engine uses a liquid oxidizer and liquid fuel that are stored separately. The oxidizer and fuel for a solid rocket engine are combined ahead of time to form a solid propellant. A hybrid rocket engine, on the other hand, uses a liquid oxidizer and a solid fuel that mix once it fires off. James Linehan

V _________________ J

 

Hybrid Rocket Engine

Injector Flame Front Throat

 

Exhaust

 

Combustion.

Chamber Nozzle

 

Oxidizer

 

Fuel

 

SpaceShipOne Rocket-Engine DesignSpaceShipOne Rocket-Engine Design

SpaceShipOne Rocket-Engine Design

Abort Contingencies (9G)

Melvill continued to expand the flight envelope and to test the feather. Figure 7.12 shows him inside the cockpit pulling the feather control. But he had another important task to complete.

All this flight testing was really aimed at one goal: SpaceShipOne flying a spaceflight. So, every step along the way had to accomplish something that would bring that goal just a little bit closer. But this also meant that contingencies had to be worked out. “Probably the biggest fear we had for every flight was having to abort,” Doug Shane said about the rocket-powered flights.

Scaled Composites had very good confidence in how SpaceShipOne flew by this point. And after an extensive rocket-engine test program on the ground, they also had a good feeling about the rocket engine. So, Scaled Composites felt a safety incident was not likely to result from flying SpaceShipOne or firing the rocket engine. But an abort during a test flight was much more plausible, considering one had already occurred.

If SpaceShipOne aborted while full of fuel and oxidizer, then this would be much too much weight for it to handle during landing. “You

Подпись: г
Подпись: л

Fig. 7.15. The photograph shows Brian Binnie preparing right before his first time flying SpaceShipOne. This would be the last glide flight prior to the start of SpaceShipOne’s rocket – powered test flights. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, photograph by David M. Moore

Подпись:

have to actually dump nitrous to get rid of about 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms) of mass. But you couldn’t deal with the rubber in the rocker motor,” Shane said.

For this test flight, Melvill evaluated the emergency handling and landing characteristics. Figure 7.13 shows SpaceShipOne dumping the ballast, which it used to alter the CG during testing. Additional mod­ifications were also made to the landing procedures, and figure 7.14 shows SpaceShipOne’s smooth touchdown.

Propellants

The force that causes a rocket engine’s thrust results from combus­tion. This type of chemical reaction is similar to burning wood. The wood, which is a fuel, and the air, which is an oxidizer, react to form gases and other substances. Both the fuel and oxidizer must be present for combustion to occur.

The difference with a rocket engine is that the fuel and the oxi­dizer release much higher energy, and the gases from the reaction travel out of the nozzle at very high speeds. These high-speed gases provide the thrust.

Each Space Shuttle SRB contains 1,100,000 pounds (500,000 kilograms) of solid propellant, 70 percent ammonium perchlorate for its oxidizer and 16 percent aluminum powder for its fuel. The balance consists of binders, curing agents, and catalysts. These burn until there is nothing left to burn. The liquid propellants are contained in separate pressurized tanks within the ET. These tanks hold 1,350,000 pounds (612,000 kilograms) of liquid oxygen oxidizer, often called LOX, and 227,800 pounds (103,000 kilograms) of liquid hydrogen fuel. The main engines produce thrust when the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen are pumped together.

Propellants

Propellants

C >

Fig. 5.3. To reach orbit, the Space Shuttle uses three liquid-fueled rocket engines, the shuttle main engines (SME) at the rear of the orbiter and two solid rocket boosters (SRB), which are attached to the external tank (ET). Dan Linehan

V_________________ )

SpaceShipOne is a tiny fraction of the Space Shuttle’s mass, and it reaches less than a third of the height the Space Shuttles does. So, the propellant requirements are quite different. SpaceShipOne used nitrous oxide (N20), a colorless liquid or gas naturally occurring in the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide is commonly used as laughing gas, as a hot rod fuel additive for a quick boost of speed, and as a propellant for whipped cream. The N20 is liquefied and used as the oxidizer. The oxidizer enables the fuel to burn at a near-explosive rate. The oxidizer tank contains 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms) of N20.

г ^

Fig. 5.4. When the oxidizer and the fuel combine, a vigorous chemical

reaction takes place. The very hot gases from this combustion produce the thrust and resulting fiery plume. Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, photo provided courtesy of Discovery Channel and Vulcan Productions, Inc.

Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) is the solid used for the fuel and is a synthetic rubber, like that used to make tires. About 600 pounds (270 kilograms) fuel the rocket engine. Both the oxidizer and the fuel can easily and safely be stored and transported. In fact, unlike liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, which react together spon­taneously, N20 and HTPB will not react together unless an igniter is first used. For the reaction to occur, the temperature must be greater than 570 degrees Fahrenheit.

The combustion products from the combination of N20 and HTPB are mostly carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, nitrogen, and water vapor. This is not as clean burning as the Space Shuttle’s main engines but is much less polluting than the Space Shuttle’s solid rocket boosters, which produce a giant, toxic acid cloud. Figure 5.3 and figure 5.4 show the rocket engines of the Space Shuttle and SpaceShipOne firing, respectively.

Ready for Rocket Power (10G)

The rocket engine had been qualified only a few weeks previously and was ready to make its debut. Test flight 10G would be the last glide flight before attempting to light off the rocket engine with SpaceShipOne. Figure 7. IS shows Brian Binnie readying himself for his first flight in SpaceShipOne, and figure 7.16 shows flight engineer Matt Stinemetze making preparations in White Knight right before takeoff.

r—————————————– ^

Flight Test Log Excerpt for 10G

Date: 4 December 2003

Flight Number Pilot/Flight Engineer

SpaceShipOne 10G Brian Binnie

White Knight 42L Pete Siebold/Matt Stinemetze

Objective: The seventh glide flight of SpaceShipOne and new pilot check out. Full functional check of the propulsion system by cold flowing nitrous oxide. Completed airspeed and positive and negative g-envelope expansion.

(source: Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, provided courtesy of Scaled Composites)

V____________________________________ )

Ready for Rocket Power (10G)г ; >

Fig. 7.17. SpaceShipOne was released at a height of 48,400 feet (14,750 meters). This video­capture image shows SpaceShipOne and White Knight mated up just prior to separation. The contrails from White Knight’s turbojet engines can be seen trailing off in the background.

Mojave Aerospace Ventures LLC, video capture provided courtesy of Discovery Channel and Vulcan Productions, Inc.

V_________________________________________________

Ready for Rocket Power (10G)

Brian Binnie would now have a chance behind the control stick of SpaceShipOne. White Knight carried SpaceShipOne to the highest release altitude yet, 48,400 feet (14,750 meters). Figure 7.17 shows a close – up of SpaceShipOne attached to White Knight with the contrails from White Knight’s afterburners streamed away in the background.

A cold run of the rocket was performed. Binnie used all the controls and instruments for the rocket, including flowing the liquid N20 oxidizer
through the CTN (case/throat/nozzle) as if it were an actual rocket burn. However, without igniting the fuel, no combustion occurred.

After the successful cold run, Binnie turned his attention to com­pleting the airspeed and g-force envelope expansion. Binnie pushed SpaceShipOne the hardest so far, and when finished, he glided back to Mojave, as shown in figure 7.18, eager for the next phase of flight testing to begin.

Ready for Rocket Power (10G)

Up to this point, the contrails in the air only came from the twin turbojets on White Knight After a total of ten unpowered flights, some captive carry and some glide, SpaceShipOne was ready to light its hybrid rocket engine for the first time in the sky. Tyson V. Rininger