quade 4 #1 April 21, 2003 Well, sure if ANYONE is going to put a privately funded man in space it's going to be Scaled Composites, but check out THIS cockpit photo of their mothership called the "White Knight". Notice the backup altimeter?quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DTOXX 0 #2 April 21, 2003 Whats this, a NEW JUMP PLANE. The plane is sitting about 50 minutes from my house. ------- D.T. Holder SIMstudy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Racenic 0 #3 April 21, 2003 The Photo looks like it was taken over the Mohave airport. I have a 100 plus jumps at Cal City (Van and Alberta) and thats the view climbing to altitude of the Mohave and the airport. Nick D The key to Immortality is- first living a life worth remembering” Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #4 April 21, 2003 The Rutan's are freekin' geniuses. I can't wait to see them once again fly into history.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #5 April 21, 2003 That photo WAS taken at Mohave. They just had a press day. More info HERE.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kevin922 0 #6 April 21, 2003 here is the n-number info : Serial Number 001 Type Registration Corporation Manufacturer Name SCALED COMPOSITES LLC Certificate Issue Date 07/05/2002 Model 318 Status Valid Type Aircraft Fixed Wing Multi-Engine Type Engine Turbo-Jet Pending Number Change None Dealer No Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code 50663044 MFR Year 2002 Fractional Owner NO -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Registered Owner Name SCALED COMPOSITES LLC Street 1624 FLIGHT LINE City MOJAVE State CALIFORNIA Zip Code 93501-1663 County KERN Country UNITED STATES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Airworthiness Engine Manufacturer AMA/EXPR Classification Experimental Engine Model UNKNOWN ENG Category Research and Development A/W Date 07/15/2002 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,120 #7 April 21, 2003 And the Radio Shack $9.99 timer, and the Garmin Streetpilot GPS (in case one has to decide to land in a Taco Bell instead of a McDonald's parking lot; that GPS has such info in its data base.) Thought one comment on their site was funny: "The products of combustion are mostly benign (water vapor, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and nitrogen and some carbon monoxide) and certainly much more friendly than any other class of rocket propulsion." As opposed to an SSME, which exhausts . . . water. Yeah, when I heard Rutan was getting involved I figured it would finally get done. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #8 April 21, 2003 Is it just me or does the fuselage also have a striking resemblance to something Flash Gordon would fly? http://flashgordon.ws/images/snap002.jpgquade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VectorBoy 0 #9 April 22, 2003 It looks like the cockpit of their boomerang but updated. Rutan always liked glass cockpits with instruments by apple. Glen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
misterhand 0 #10 April 22, 2003 thats got to be a photoshop job. i mean gimme a break. somehow i have a hard time dealing with the idea of the next gen spacecraft having a cockpit whose sum total controls are simpler than the latest mech combat simulator. and whats the wrist mount alti doing inside the cockpit? to tell you how high you are in the split second before ejecting?if its a spacecraft its pressurized, so the alti does nothing but indicate you do have pressure....and in any case it just doesnt make any sense....a wrist mount reads up to 12k and is useful a few k beyond that but no more. that'd be like building a lamborghini whose speedo only reads up to 5 mph. something tells me this is a mock glory shot intended to look cool but tell nobody anything about the spacecraft itself. can you say intellectual property protection? i know almost nothing about aerospace industries in general but i also have a hard time buying the idea that the company to build the next gen shuttle is so hard up for money they'd regulate anything with a 5$ radioshack kitchen timer. this is not exactly s-rated electronics we're looking at here. risk a multimillion dollar prototype spacecraft because you're too cheap or strapped for cash to buy/build real gauges? something does not compute. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,120 #11 April 22, 2003 > thats got to be a photoshop job. i mean gimme a break. somehow i >have a hard time dealing with the idea of the next gen spacecraft having > a cockpit whose sum total controls are simpler than the latest mech >combat simulator. Why? Computers do most of the work nowadays. The rocket has an arm switch and a fire switch; why do you need more than that? After reentry the thing is a glider, and thus has the same controls as any glider (stick, rudder pedals, spoilers.) The MFD screen can put up any info you can dream up. Take a look at the cockpit of an A340 and compare it to the cockpit of an 707. Fewer seats, fewer knobs and gauges. You don't need a navigator or even a flight engineer any more. You barely need a pilot. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
misterhand 0 #12 April 22, 2003 fewer, yeah, but this pic looks like something i built back in high school. you ever read about what it takes to make even the simplest computer hardware hardened for space?i read it took way long time to even get 8086 stuff from years ago spaceproofed...which is why the old shuttle still looks like something out of the late 70's. no gui, no boxes bars or mice.... not even dual displays mind you....one backlight driver circuit failure and he's blind...... ok maybe their display is massively overbuilt with triple redundant everything, but...... too little information to make the call, really. its either a bogus pic or its so advanced i don't know what im looking at. but im not buying it. i bet if this thing actually becomes the next shuttle and we see lots and lots of media of it once its in daily use i bet the cockpit doesnt look anything like what they will later tell us was a "concept photo". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
indyz 1 #13 April 22, 2003 The cockpit in the photo isn't from the spacecraft, it is from the plane that will carry the spacecraft to launch altitude. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VectorBoy 0 #14 April 22, 2003 All of Rutans designs are all about simple. He has designed two twin engine aircraft, the defiant and the boomerang, in which after loosing an engine there is nothing special for the pilot to do but keep flying on the one remaining engine. The quikie a 120 pound ( empty weight, 250 ready to fly with pilot )22 horsepower airplane that has similar performance to a light two place single engine plane. Vari-ez 200+ mph on less than 100 horsepower. Long-ez Alaska to key west on one tank of gas and something you can build in your garage,2000 of them flying. Voyager, around the world on one tank of gas , one built hanging in the smithsonian. Developing very light bizz jet powered by something similar to what cruisemissles use for an engine. The one thing about Rutan is his designs HAVE demonstrated. Nothing is ever released until it has flown. Built in secret in small hangers at mojave by a handfull of people.very few drawings. very few tools. Very simple. Glen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #15 April 22, 2003 Space Shuttle Glass cockpit has replaced the shuttle that you are thinking of. The glass design came into paly about 2000 so the movies are still behind. The photo you are looking at is a real photo... Scaled has loved to use the glass cockpit concept and the circle windows for years. I'm guessing a reason it has all none connected backup systems (alti, clock) is since its designated as experimental and this way they have instraments if the power fails in testing. >its either a bogus pic or its so advanced i don't know what im looking at. I'm saying option 2 Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
misterhand 0 #16 April 22, 2003 im reading further on the website. the site says the cockpits in both craft are identical anyway. in any case im thinking more about it and kinda starting to change my mind. this thing's mission is a lot simpler than a shuttle and its whole concept of operation is, too. no roboarms, payload bays or solid boosters, no life support systems needed big enough to feed a living space the size of a small hotel room, no science stations study hardware or any of the crap not essential to actually flying the thing.....and since its more of a glider than a ballistic missile like a old school shuttle i bet actual flightpath avionics and fuel management are a lot simpler too. i mean what the hell, our dz's otter has all this crap built into the dash, 60's 70's vintage gps, loran, god knows what else i cant identify....its all junk. we get perfect spot every time cause the pilot refitted it with a high end garmin gps stuck on the windshield with a suction cup. i have more processing power in my cellphone than on the entire old school shuttle's flight deck. and my own old car's antique gauges and com hardware are junk too....i got a digital tach beats hell out a speedo and i just ripped out my old 40-channel cb. hadn't touched it in 5 years it was useless compared to a cellphone. i'll tell you this though....if that cockpit in the pic IS the real thing it raises the possibility of blue collar astronauts...forklift operator, cdl license, airline pilot, orbital cargo shuttle pilot? it'd be nice if space became accessible to lesser humans than the squeaky clean workaholic yuppie perfect plastic human-looking types who get into space now. i mean right now if you aren't physically perfect and you didnt get straight a's in school from the age of 5 and a stellar record in the military and 18 doctorates from wherever you aren't getting into space unless you plunk down 20 million and BUY your way right past all the bullshit and lance bass's failure says even THATS difficult to do. i still doubt i'll ever be able to buy a ticket to orbit in my lifetime but every once in awhile i see something like this or the latest space elevator effort that makes me wonder. imagine how different the world would be with a space-travel industry equivalent to today's airline/airport systems. all i ask is a job driving forklift in the warehouse for wal-mart's outlet at the strip mall in aristarchus crater near the silicate refinery and transient's dorms. maybe in the next 50 years..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
misterhand 0 #17 April 22, 2003 space travel without heavy industry....? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest #18 April 22, 2003 Can't wait to see it - man, is that ever going to be something! "The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deuce 1 #19 April 22, 2003 I knew you'd be putting this one up. Rutan has the coolest nogiveup brand of practical genius. Neato. JP Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
n2skdvn 0 #20 April 22, 2003 Quote coolest nogiveup brand of practical genius Getting out bill von dictionary..........if my calculations are correct SLINKY + ESCULATOR = EVERLASTING FUN my site Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VectorBoy 0 #21 April 22, 2003 I'll tell you this though....if that cockpit in the pic IS the real thing it raises the possibility of blue collar astronauts...forklift operator, cdl license, airline pilot, orbital cargo shuttle pilot? it'd be nice if space became accessible to lesser humans than the squeaky clean workaholic yuppie perfect plastic human-looking types who get into space now. i mean right now if you aren't physically perfect and you didnt get straight a's in school from the age of 5 and a stellar record in the military and 18 doctorates from wherever you aren't getting into space unless you plunk down 20 million __________________________________________________ Speaking of lesser humans, Do you think that jump suit manufacturers will make us jumpers a semi- pressure suit with a bail out bottle so that we could get more altitude out of that thing. It holds three people, thats a pilot and a two way right? " Center we have space divers away at 80,000 ".Glen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
