Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne
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- For information about the design of SpaceShipOne, and on related projects and commercial ventures, see Tier One.
Scaled Composites Model 316 SpaceShipOne completed the first privately-funded human spaceflight on June 21, 2004.
SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched suborbital spaceplane that uses a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique "shuttlecock" reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folds upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increases 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 30 times as much energy as lifting it to 100 km.
SpaceShipOne was developed by 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 largely by Paul Allen.
New funding comes from British tycoon Richard Branson, who is to fund the successor SpaceShipTwo for his new company Virgin Galactic through a $21 million US deal. During its testing regime, SpaceShipOne set a number of important "firsts", including first privately-funded aircraft to exceed Mach 2 and Mach 3, first privately-funded spacecraft to exceed 100km altitude and first privately-funded reusable spacecraft.
History
SpaceShipOne is registered with the FAA as ''' |) | }} }}. 'N' is the prefix for US-registered aircraft; '328KF' was chosen by Scaled Composites to stand for 328000 (k) 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.
All of its flights have been from the Mojave Airport Civilian Flight Test Center.
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 permited 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.
Specifications
General characteristics
- Crew: one pilot (capable of taking 3)
- Length: 5 m
- Wingspan: 5 m
- Height:
- Core Diameter: 1.52 m
- Wing area: 15 m²
- Empty: 1,200 kg
- Loaded: 3,600 kg
- Maximum takeoff:
- Powerplant: 1x N2O/HTPB SpaceDev Hybrid rocket motor, 7,500 kgf (74 kN) thrust. Isp: 250 s (2.5 km/s) Burn time: 87 seconds
Performance
- Maximum speed: Mach 3.09 (3,518 km/h)
- Range: 65 km
- Service ceiling: 112,000 m
- Rate of climb: 25,000 m/min
- Wing loading: 240 kg/m²
- Thrust-to-Weight: 20 N/kg
- Aspect Ratio: 1.6
Flights
Flights of SpaceShipOne are 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.
| Flight | Date | Top speed | Altitude | Duration | Pilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01C | May 20 2003 | 1 h 48 min | unmanned | ||
| 02C | July 29 2003 | 2 h 06 min | Mike Melvill | ||
| 03G | August 7 2003 | 0 h 19 min | Mike Melvill | ||
| 04GC | August 27 2003 | 1 h 06 min | Mike Melvill | ||
| 05G | August 27 2003 | 10 min 30 s | Mike Melvill | ||
| 06G | September 23 2003 | 12 min 15 s | Mike Melvill | ||
| 07G | October 17 2003 | 17 min 49 s | Mike Melvill | ||
| 08G | November 14 2003 | 19 min 55 s | Peter Siebold | ||
| 09G | November 19 2003 | 12 min 25 s | Mike Melvill | ||
| 10G | December 4 2003 | 13 min 14 s | Brian Binnie | ||
| 11P | December 17 2003 | Mach 1.2 | 20.7 km | 18 min - 10 s | Brian Binnie |
| 12G | March 11 2004 | 18 min - 30 s | Peter Siebold | ||
| 13P | April 8 2004 | Mach 1.6 | 32.0 km | 16 min 27 s | Peter Siebold |
| 14P | May 13 2004 | Mach 2.5 | 64.3 km | 20 min - 44 s | Mike Melvill |
| 15P | June 21 2004 | Mach 2.9 | 100.1 km | 24 min 05 s | Mike Melvill |
| 16P | September 29 2004 | Mach 2.92 | 102.9 km | 24 min 11 s | Mike Melvill |
| 17P | October 4 2004 | Mach 3.09 | 112.0 km | 23 min 56 s | Brian Binnie |
Astronauts
The SpaceShipOne pilots are:
The astronauts come from a variety of aerospace backgrounds. Melvill is a test pilot, Binnie was a Navy pilot, and Shane and Siebold are engineers at Scaled Composites. They have qualified to fly SpaceShipOne by training on the Tier One flight simulator and in White Knight and other Scaled Composites aircraft.
Results
SpaceShipOne's spaceflights have been watched by large crowds at Mojave Spaceport. On July 25, 2005 SpaceShipOne landed at the Oshkosh Airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After the airshow, the aircraft was flown 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.
- Flight 18P of SpaceShipOne was a spaceflight in the Tier One program that was anticipated to take place on October 13 2004.
A piece of SpaceShipOne's carbon fiber material was launched aboard the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.[link]
SpaceShipOne became a popular model rocket in 2004. Estes Industries currently offers several flying model rockets of SpaceShipOne.
See also
External links
- [Tier One home page] at Scaled Composites's website
- *Flight profile [in PDF format] and [in JPG format]
- [SpaceDev]
- [SpaceShipOne video footage] of flight 14P
- [Private Craft to Shoot for Space by Irene Mona Klotz, Discovery News]
- [Wired News: SpaceShipOne Back on Course]
- [SpaceShipOne's FAA registration]
- [The Ansari X Prize]
- [SpaceShipOne documentary DVD - Mojave Magic]
- *[Song I Want To Go In A Space Ship about SpaceShipOne from Mojave Magic]
- *[Video of Burt Rutan singing the song at the 2005 Oshkosh airshow]
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