MOJAVE — With the planned launch of Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipOne
first attempt to win the $10 million X-Prize less than two weeks away,
officials at Mojave Spaceport are meeting regularly to prepare for the
event, and a follow-up launch within two weeks of the first flight.
And new rocket engines have been delivered for the Mojave-built spaceship’s
prize attempts.
Bob Rice, the East Kern Airport District official in charge of the
launch program, briefed personnel from Scaled Composites, airport security,
Kern County sheriff and fire dept., and news media during a briefing Monday
morning.
“The flights are less than two weeks and two days away,” Rice reminded
his listeners as he moved around the room to several posters and charts
containing details of the planned launches, which are expected to attract
thousands of visitors to the spaceport.
Some of the charts were blank, but Rice said that situation will change
this week as X-Prize officials move onto the airport.
“We have a lot to do in the next two weeks,” Rice said.
Among the many details necessary for the launches is sending a fax
to the FAA on each of the launch days noting if any tortoises have been
found on the spaceport grounds.
EKAD officials are also working with a firm that provides a material
that can be applied to dirt parting areas to hold down dust without applying
water.
Air show
Rice said the X-Prize flights will have more of an air show atmosphere
than the historic June 21 flight of SpaceShipOne, which resulted in pilot
Mike Melvill receiving astronaut wings from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Ansari X-Prize Foundation has contracted with Air Show Network
to produce the two launches.
Rice is a veteran not only of previous SpaceShipOne launches, but of
many years of managing launches and recoveries of NASA’s Space Shuttle.
Following Monday’s meeting, airport crash rescue personnel participated
in a simulated aircraft crash at the spaceport.
The drill, involving a BAE Slight Systems F-4 aircraft, helped emergency
personnel train for a possible crash and was a biannual exercise BAE performs
for the U.S. Air Force as part of its contract to convert F-4s into target
drones.
Rocket engines
As emergency crews trained for the flights, the firm that builds the
rocket engines for SpaceShipOne announced it has assembled and shipped
the rocket motors that will be used for the upcoming historic attempt by
SpaceShipOne to win the $10 million Ansari X-Prize. The hybrid rocket motors
burn rubber and laughing gas (HTPB and N2O).
SpaceDev, based in Poway, California, finished casting the HTPB fuel
into three discardable motor cases, assembled and integrated SpaceDev’s
proprietary technology into the motors, and shipped them to Mojave in preparation
for the flights. A less powerful version of this motor powered SpaceShipOne
to fly well beyond 50 miles altitude, and created the world’s first private
sector astronaut on June 21, 2004.
MORE NEWS IN ROSAMOND CA - CLICK HERE
HOMES FOR SALE IN ROSAMOND CALIFORNIA - CLICK HERE