X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARIES (Note: see for more detailed data)

Transcription

1 X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARIES (Note: see for more detailed data) List of Registered X PRIZE Teams 1. Acceleration Engineering 2. Advent Launch Services 3. Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association - ARCA 4. American Astronautics Corporation 5. Armadillo Aerospace 6. Bristol Spaceplanes 7. Canadian Arrow 8. The da Vinci Project 9. Pablo de León and Associates 10. Discraft Corporation 11. Flight Exploration 12. Fundamental Technology Systems 13. IL Aerospace Technologies (ILAT) 14. Interorbital Systems (IOS) 15. Kelly Space & Technology 16. Lone Star Space Access 17. Micro-Space, Inc. 18. PanAero 19. Pioneer Rocketplane 20. Scaled Composites 21. Starchaser Industries 22. Suborbital Corporation 23. TGV Rockets 24. Vanguard Spacecraft X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY Page 1

2 1. ACCELERATION ENGINEERING Ship Name: Lucky Seven Team Leader: Mickey Badgero Nation: USA Bath, Michigan Landing: Parafoil Landing Web: None Lucky Seven will be a conical rocket 9 meters long and 3 meters between fin tips. For launch and landing, the rocket will be supported on four fixed leg-fins, each five feet tall. These legs are part of a metal frame that supports the propulsion system, a pressurized cabin, and a nose cone/recovery system. Launching vertically, the main engines will burn for 90 seconds, after which the rocket will coast for another 100 seconds past the 100-kilometer altitude mark. Passengers will experience weightlessness for about three and a half minutes - from the time the engines shut off until the rocket falls back into the atmosphere. Upon reentering the atmosphere, a drogue parachute will be deployed to slow the ascent. When the air thickens, a parafoil will be deployed. The spacecraft will then return to the launch site, using a Global Positioning System satellite guidance system, gliding to a vertical landing. 2. ADVENT LAUNCH SERVICES Ship Name: Mayflower Team Leader: Jim Akkerman Nation: USA Houston, Texas from Water Landing: Horizontal Glide Landing on Water Web: Advent Launch Services (ALS) is an employee-owned corporation established to provide reliable earth-to-orbit payload deliveries at a small fraction of today's costs and to establish a fully-commercial space program. ALS is a group of NASA retirees with extensive experience with space vehicle development. James W. (Jim) Akkerman is president and has primary responsible for the Advent concept. The Advent spacecraft is launched vertically from water and landed horizontally like a sea plane. It is a winged rocket that is designed to glide down to the ocean surface for a safe, controlled landing. A full-scale engineering test vehicle has been completed and rocket engine tests were performed in June Results of these tests have led to some redesign of propulsion system components. Page 2 X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY

3 3. AERONAUTICS AND COSMONAUTICS ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION - ARCA Ship Name: Orizont Team Leader: Dimitru Popescu Nation: Romania - Rimnicu Vilcea Landing: Parachute Descent on Water Web: The Orizont vehicle is extremely simple to ensure a high reliability and low production cost. The entire vehicle has a length of 14 meters (46 feet), a diameter of 1.4 meters (4.6 feet), and weighs 7,000 kg (15,430 pounds). The vehicle will take-off vertically, from a launch pad and accelerates to a speed of about 1,300 m/s. At 40,000 m the engine will shut down, and the vehicle will continue to coast to an altitude above 100 km. The acceleration will be no greater than 3.5G. The crew capsule separates from the launch vehicle at an altitude of 80 km. The return to the surface of the Earth of the Orizont vehicle will be made in two separated pieces. One piece will be the rocket, and the other will be the capsule. Both will have a parachute recovery system, and they will land on sea. The main parachutes will be deployed at an altitude of 4 km. Helicopters will recover both the capsule and rocket. The occupants of the capsule will stay in the vehicle until the helicopter will transport the capsule to the land. 4. AMERICAN ASTRONAUTICS CORPORATION Ship Name: The Spirit of Liberty Team Leader: Bill Sprague Nation: USA Oceanside, California Landing: Parachute Descent on Water Web: The American Astronautics Corp. is a group of seasoned low cost launch vehicle designers, builders, testers, and launchers of simple, pressure fed, reusable space launch vehicles which follow the Minimum-Cost-To-Flight philosophy. The Spirit of Liberty is the logical step leading from the X-3 to take a single person to an altitude of 100 km, and to the currently in-work commercial space tourism vehicle designed by Sprague, capable of carrying 30 passengers. The Spirit of Liberty will weigh about 10,000 pounds and have an engine producing some 20,000 pounds of thrust. The rocket is 3 feet in diameter and some 42 feet long. X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY Page 3

4 5. ARMADILLO AEROSPACE Ship Name: Black Armadillo Team Leader: John Carmack Nation: USA Dallas, Texas Landing: Parachute Descent on Land with Crushable Nosecone Web: Leading a small team of dedicated enthusiasts with eclectic backgrounds, John Carmack founded Armadillo Aerospace in 2000 an incorporated on January 1, Since that time, the Armadillo team has accomplished more than some groups have in decades; and each successful achievement leads them to one of their goals. Armadillo Aerospace has set its site on winning the X PRIZE. Armadillo Aerospace is located in Mesquite, Texas, USA. As testing on vehicle systems progresses, the design of the Black Armadillo is gradually maturing. The current design is a single stage vehicle with non-traditional operating features. The Black Armadillo s propulsion system consists of four pressure fed, hydrogen peroxide, monopropellant system rocket engines fed from a single tank. The propellant tank has a capacity for 1,600 gallons (6,055 liters) of hydrogen peroxide. The exhaust of a hydrogen peroxide propulsion system is environment-friendly (superheated steam and gaseous oxygen). Recent testing of the crushable nose cone landing system was performed as the full-scale test vehicle was dropped from 20,000 feet. 6. BRISTOL SPACEPLANES Ship Name: Ascender Team Leader: David Ashford Nation: United Kingdom Bristol, England Launch: Horizontal Take-Off from Conventional Runway Landing: Horizontal Landing at Conventional Runway Web: Bristol Spaceplanes Limited, based in Bristol, England, was formed in 1991 to the Ascender Spaceplane. Bristol Spaceplanes has been an industry leader in spaceplane design for more than 30 years. David Ashford is director of Bristol Spaceplanes Limited. He graduated from Imperial College and University of London. Ascender is a small airplane that can reach the altitude of space (i.e. 100 kilometers or 62 miles) but not orbital speeds. It is fitted with jet engines and a rocket motor. It takes off from an ordinary airfield using its jet engines and climbs at subsonic speed to a height of 8km. The pilot then starts the rocket engine and pulls the spaceship up into a steep climb. When the rocket fuel is used up Ascender is climbing close to the vertical at a speed of Mach 2.8, from which it coasts to a maximum height of 100km. Ascender then enters a steep dive. On reaching the atmosphere the pilot pulls out of the dive and flies back to the airfield from which he took off some 30 minutes earlier. Ascender will carry a crew of two and two passengers to space and back. Passengers will experience two minutes of weightlessness, will see superb views of Earth, and will see the sky turn black even in daytime. Page 4 X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY

5 7. CANADIAN ARROW Ship Name: Canadian Arrow Team Leader: Geoff Sheerin Nation: Canada Toronto, Ontario Landing: Parachute Descent on Water Web: The Canadian Arrow is one of two Canadian X PRIZE teams. The Canadian Arrow vehicle takes off vertically under 57,000 lbs of engine thrust. This first stage burns for approximately 55 seconds to an altitude of 90,000 ft. The second stage crew cabin then separates and burns for 5 seconds, boosting the velocity enough to reach 70 miles altitude. The acceleration at separation is no more than 4.5 Gs. The pilot will orient the vehicle for the best window view for passengers during the flight through the 70-mile high arc. Just before reentry the ram air ballute is deployed; once the crew cabin slows to subsonic speed the three main parachutes are pulled out slowing the vehicle to a gentle splashdown. The Canadian Arrow team has built a full-scale mockup which it trucked down to Manhattan in April In June 2003, Canadian Arrow announced their selection of astronauts to fly the Canadian Arrow vehicles in X PRIZE competition flights in late The company has had a successful rocket test of a partial engine and a full scale engine test is expected soon. 8. THE DA VINCI PROJECT Ship Name: Wild Fire Team Leader: Brian Feeney Nation: Canada Toronto, Ontario Launch: Air Launch from Balloon Landing: Parachute Descent on Land Web: The da Vinci Project will launch its spacecraft from a large helium balloon. The 5,500 pound rocket will be tethered 600 meters below the 25-story balloon and lifted over the course of an hour to an altitude of 80,000 feet. The 10,000-pound thrust, liquid oxygen, kerosene engines will fire the first stage and the rocket will fly an initial angular trajectory to clear the balloon. The spacecraft then will transition to vertical flight to its apogee of 120 km in space. The rocket will reach a maximum speed on both its ascent and reentry of Mach 4, or 4,250 kph (2,650 mph). An innovative ballute will protect and stabilize the rocket on reentry. A flyable parachute will be deployed at 10,000 feet and the rocket will descend under control, guided by GPS, to a predetermined landing zone. The da Vinci Project has already successfully conducted full-scale rocket motor test and has built a fullscale mockup of their vehicle. X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY Page 5

6 9. PABLO DE LEÓN AND ASSOCIATES Ship Name: Gauchito (Little Cowboy) Team Leader: Pablo de León Nation: Argentina Buenos Aires Launch: Hybrid Rocket Powered Vertical Takeoff Landing: Parachute Descent on Water Web: Pablo de León is an aerospace engineer with extensive experience in space project management. He is co-founder and president of the Argentine Association for Space Technology (AATE), and a graduate of the International Space University. The flight of Gauchito will start with the lift off of the rocket, a clustered unit made up of four hybrid engines producing a maximum acceleration of 3.5 G. The engines burn until the vehicle has reached an altitude of 34 km. The vehicle then coasts to 120 km. After about five minutes of weightlessness, the pilot will orient the thermal shield for decent into the atmosphere. The vehicle is recovered via parachute. De Leon has already flown a scale test capsule to 100,000 feet and conducted one-third scale rocket test firings. Testing of flight suits and other critical systems were conducted in May 2003 and a half-scale flight test of the Gauchito vehicle was conducted in June DISCRAFT CORPORATION Ship Name: The Space Tourist Team Leader: John Bloomer Nation: USA Portland, Oregon Launch: Horizontal Take-Off from Conventional Runway Landing: Horizontal Landing at Conventional Runway Web: None John Bloomer is an aerospace engineer and has worked on many aerospace projects, including Apollo and holds more than 60 patents on a disc-platform aircraft. Bloomer s Ship utilizes Blastwave Pulsejets. The X PRIZE vehicle is a 100 foot diameter, suborbital, hypersonic wave rider aerospace craft (aka saucer ) exhibiting (on paper) the following features unprecedented, maximum slippery, overall, all flight regime, laminar flow by using suction over the entire upper surface of the vehicle, ultimate strength, massless, jet-flap controls by blowing the suction air through exhausts to affect control surface functionality without hardware, and ideal, all flight regime, natural positive stability, variable center of gravity by moving the heaviest of aircraft components, including the engines 11. FLIGHT EXPLORATION Ship Name: The Green Arrow Team Leader: Dr. Graham Dorrington Nation: United Kingdom London, England Landing: Parachute Descent Web: None The Green Arrow looks like a small stout version of the Mercury Redstone rocket used to carry Alan Shepard. The main difference is that the whole vehicle will be recovered using standard parachutes. The prototype vehicle will be fueled by standard aviation kerosene and commercially available hydrogen peroxide. It will have an all up mass of about 20,000kg (40,000lbs) at takeoff and have a lightweight composite structure permitting a mass ratio of about 0.3. Recovery will be made using standard parachutes. Page 6 X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY

7 12. FUNDAMENTAL TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS Ship Name: Aurora Team Leader: Ray Nielsen Nation: USA - Orlando, Florida Launch: Horizontal Rocket Take-Off from Conventional Runway Landing: Horizontal Glide Landing at Conventional Runway Web: Funtech is planning a horizontal all-rocket spaceplane design. Brakes are released at half-throttle starting the take-off roll. At 110 knots Aurora is rotated for liftoff. The climb attitude is continually increased to maintain subsonic flight until above 60,000 feet. At 80,000 feet, and with a flight path angle nearly 75 degrees above the horizon, the engine is commanded to 100% power. The main engine cuts off and Aurora coasts in a ballistic trajectory above 350,000 feet. In preparation for reentry, the pilot uses the RCS to orient Aurora into the initial deceleration attitude, and the flight path angle is decreased until a turn-back toward the departure field can be initiated. The best glide profile is commanded until the downwind initial point for landing is achieved. 13. IL AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGIES (ILAT) Ship Name: Negev 5 Team Leader: Dov Chartarifsky Nation: Israel Zichon Ya akov Launch: Air Launch from Balloon Landing: Parachute Descent on Land Web: The Negev 5 will be a self-sufficient reusable sub-orbital space vehicle capable of being launched and recovered anywhere in the world from land or sea without the need of runways, assist aircrafts, costly installations or complicated procedures. The vehicle will be a pressurized 3-person habitant equipped with all the essential instrumentation for flight, navigation, communications and life-support. The vehicle will be constructed employing lightweight aircraft-grade alloys and composite materials, while the propulsion system will utilize the latest hybrid rocket technology. The Negev 5 will be launched from ground level using ILAT's own fully reusable High-Altitude Launch Platform (HALP). The concept allows the vehicle to hitchhike a free ride on a large stratospheric balloon filled with helium to its intended rocket launch altitude of 25 Km (82K ft) above mean sea level. Most of the atmospheric drag will be overcome while saving precious fuel. The HALP concept makes it possible to design a smaller, lighter and more efficient vehicle; satisfying the criteria for practical low-cost space access. X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY Page 7

8 14. INTERORBITAL SYSTEMS (IOS) Ship Name: Solaris X Team Leader: Roderick and Randa Milliron Nation: USA Mojave, California from Water or Land Landing: Parachute Descent Web: Interorbital Systems (IOS), founded in 1996, is a privately funded aerospace corporation based in Mojave, California. The company develops, manufactures, and tests liquid rocket engines, space launch vehicles, and spacecraft. In addition, IOS provides end-to-end space launch services for its own vehicles. IOS is presently engaged in the development of its Neptune-Solaris Orbital Spaceliner, a two-stage manned orbital launch vehicle. The orbiter stage in this configuration, the Solaris X rocket plane, is the company s X PRIZE entry. Solaris X will become the flagship of IOS future suborbital space tourism operations. The Interorbital Systems team possesses a broad cross-industry experience base, ranging from the academic disciplines of design, simulation, and analysis, to the hands-on skills of rocket prototyping, construction, and launch. 15. KELLY SPACE & TECHNOLOGY Ship Name: LB-X Team Leader: Michael Gallo Nation: USA San Bernardino, California Launch: Air Towed Launch from a 747 Landing: Horizontal Glide Landing at Conventional Runway Web: The vehicle is a rocket-powered delta wing glider with a liquid oxygen and kerosene liquid rocket engine. The spacecraft is prepared and fueled at the takeoff airport. The spacecraft is towed to release altitude behind a conventional jet powered aircraft such as Boeing 747 aircraft. Upon release from the tow aircraft, the main engine is throttled up for boost phase. The vehicle nominally coasts to an apogee altitude of 100 kilometers. The vehicle then glides to a landing at the takeoff airport for checkout and refueling prior to the next flight. 16. LONE STAR SPACE ACCESS Ship Name: Cosmos Mariner Team Leader: Dr. Norman LaFave Nation: USA Houston, Texas Launch: Horizontal Take-Off from Conventional Runway Landing: Horizontal Landing at Conventional Runway Web: Dr. LaFave is a Houston-based physicist who advises NASA on space rendezvous matters. His vehicle, the Cosmos Mariner employs airbreathing jet propulsion for take-off and landing from conventional airports and rocket propulsion for ascent from cruise flight in the stratosphere to 30 or 40 nautical miles altitude. From there, the vehicle coasts to a target altitude of around 65 nautical miles. The air frame is designed to interface with two turbofan engines each with 25,000-lbs static thrust. For rocket propulsion, the Cosmos Mariner will use three 90,000 pound thrust, staged-combustion engines. The vehicle is designed to take off and land from conventional runways. Page 8 X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY

9 17. MICRO-SPACE, INC. Ship Name: Crusader X Team Leader: Richard Speck Nation: USA Denver, Colorado Landing: Parachute Descent Web: Motivated individuals will find a ride in the Crusader X, the X PRIZE entry of Micro-Space, comparable to extreme adventure travel or research diving. The most critical flight step will be donning, sealing and testing the Personal Life Support unit with backup parachute, communications, and GPS gear. The Crusader X uses a lightweight core frame with seats and windshield resembling a bobsled or undersea sled. Propulsion modules are strapped onto the sides which are retained for the entire flight. Life support equipment is worn by the crew. The core holds the attitude control jets, tiny flight controller, and parachute packages. 18. PANAERO Ship Name: SabreRocket Team Leader: Len Cormier Nation: USA Fairfax, Virginia Launch: Horizontal Take-Off from Conventional Runway Landing: Horizontal Powered Landing at Conventional Runway Web: The SabreRocket will achieve the 100 km altitude with a single stage system, a modified Sabre-40 jet. The SabreRocket will be equipped with seven (7) Microcosm engines. Vacuum thrust with the existing nozzles is 5,113 pounds per engine, providing an initial thrust-to-weight ratio of about 1.5:1 when all of the rocket engines are ignited. From an altitude of 55 km and a speed of Mach 2.97, it takes the SabreRocket approximately 100 seconds to coast past the 100-km altitude limit at a speed of approximately mach 0.4. The vehicle reaches the apogee of its flight at an altitude of 102 km and then begins it free fall descent. For approximately another 80 seconds, the SabreRocket descends unpowered. The total time the crew and passengers experience weightless conditions is approximately 180 seconds. Using the attitude control system, the pilot reenters the atmosphere at an 85 or 90 degree flight-path angle and an angle-of-attack of 70 degrees. In this attitude, the wings act as a parachute or drag brake. This technique will minimize Mach number on reentry and will also minimize the reentry G-load and heating. 19. PIONEER ROCKETPLANE Ship Name: Pioneer XP Team Leaders: Mitchell Burnside Clapp Nation: USA Solvang, California Launch: Horizontal Take-Off from Conventional Runway Landing: Horizontal Landing at Conventional Runway Web: To compete for the X PRIZE and offer tourism flights, Pioneer has developed the Pioneer XP. This 4-seat vehicle is powered by jet engines and a LOX/Kerosene rocket engine. X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY Page 9

10 20. SCALED COMPOSITES Ship Name: White Knight, SpaceShipOne Team Leader: Burt Rutan Nation: USA Mojave, California Launch: Horizontal Take-Off from Conventional Runway and Air Launch: Twin Turbojet Engine (1 st stage), NO 2 -HTPB Hybrid Rocket Engine (2 nd stage) Landing: Horizontal Glide Landing at Conventional Runway Web: Burt Rutan is one of the most successful aviation designers worldwide, having designed and built more new aircraft than Boeing and Lockheed combined. His X PRIZE competition vehicle is comprised of two stages: a carrier vehicle called the White Knight, and a rocket powered spacecraft called SpaceShipOne (SS1). The White Knight is a manned, twin-turbojet research aircraft intended for high-altitude missions and is equipped to flight-qualify all the spacecraft systems, except rocket propulsion. The White Knight s cockpit, avionics, electronic control system, pneumatics, trim servos, data system, and electrical system components are identical to those installed on SS1. The White Knight s high thrust-to-weight ratio and enormous speedbrakes allow the Astronauts in training to practice space flight maneuvers like boost, approach and landing, with a very realistic environment. Thus, the aircraft serves as a high-fidelity, moving-base simulator for SS1 pilot training. SpaceShipOne (SS1) is a three-place, high-altitude research rocket, designed for sub- orbital flights to 100 km altitude. The unique configuration allows aircraft-like qualities for boost, glide, and landing. During descent, the ship s empennage converts (using pneumatic-actuated feather ) to a stable, high-drag shape for atmospheric entry. This Care- Free configuration allows a hands-off reentry and greatly reduces aero/ thermal loads. Designed for a shirt- sleeve environment, the 60 diameter cabin has a spacequalified electronic control system and dual-pane windows. The ship uses three flight control systemsmanual-subsonic, electric-supersonic and cold-gas reaction control system. To date, Rutan has conducted glide flight tests from 48,000 feet with the White Knight and SpaceShipOne. 21. STARCHASER INDUSTRIES Ship Name: Thunderbird Team Leader: Steve Bennett Nation: United Kingdom Cheshire, England Landing: Parachute Descent on Land Web: Starchaser Industries, Ltd. began life as an experimental rocket test program set up back in 1992 by Steven Bennett. In 1996, the team successfully launched a 22 foot rocket called Starchaser 2, which qualified as the largest private civilian rocket ever to be built and flown in Europe. In November 2001, Starchaser successfully launched the 40-foot tall NOVA which included a one-person crew cabin. Fullscale rocket engine tests were conducted in April Starchaser successfully perform manned, parafoil drop tests of the Nova capsule in July A launch of the three-person Starchaser Thunderbird X PRIZE vehicle is scheduled for Page 10 X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY

11 22. SUBORBITAL CORPORATION Ship Name: Cosmopolis-21 Team Leader: Sergey Kostenko Nation: Russia - Moscow Launch: Launched off top of Aircraft Landing: Horizontal Landing at Conventional Runway Web: None C-21 is a rocket powered spaceship which rides to a high altitude on a M55 altitude aircraft. Separation of the rocket powered space vehicle from the carrier aircraft at an altitude of 20 kilometers. The interior of the ship is pressurized, but the passengers will wear pressure suits as a backup. The flight will last less than 1 hour. The first minutes are spent attached to the M55 aircraft getting to the required altitude. Then the total rocket powered segment of the flight will be about 20 minutes. This private venture is done in cooperation with Myasishchev Design Bureau (MDB), which specializes in high altitude aircraft and business jets. C-21 plans to initially rent the M-55 aircraft for prototype and testing flights and then eventually buy a copy of the M-55 for regular suborbital flight operations. C-21 expects that its customers will need to train for about 1 week. 23. TGV ROCKETS Ship Name: M.I.C.H.E.L.L.E.-B Team Leader: Kent Ewing Nation: USA Bethesda, Maryland Landing: Vertical Rocket Powered Descent Web: TGV s M.I.C.H.E.L.L.E.-B (Modular Incremental Compact High Energy Launch Example) vehicle is a manned reusable sub-orbital rocket. The vehicle takes under rocket power, firing its engines for approximately 80 seconds. During the ascent, the pilot uses varied power settings to manage dynamic pressure loads. The vehicle cruises to a maximum altitude of 104 km and then enters into a gravity induced descent. A flexible aero-shield is deployed to reduce speed and moderate re-entry temperatures. At approximately 3 km, the shield begins retracting and landing power is applied. The pilot manages terminal maneuvers and manages all systems. 24. VANGUARD SPACECRAFT Ship Name: Eagle Team Leader: Steve McGrath Nation: USA Bridgewater, Massachusetts Landing: Parachute Descent Web: The Vanguard Series Launch Vehicle consists of two booster stages and spacecraft. The Booster Stages include fuel tank housing and Solid Fuel Booster (SRB) Housings. Fuel Tank Housings also allow for the replacement of prepared liquid fuel canisters in the same manner as the SRB Housings. The Spacecraft contains the personnel/cargo to be delivered into space. The structure of the Eagle will consist of carbon fiber composite materials with honeycombed core for maximum strength and minimum weight. Guidance and life support systems will be determined with the assistance of the contractors. X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY Page 11