spacetoday.net: Starchaser unveils manned spacecraft prototype

Posted: Fri, Apr 4, 2003, 1:05 PM ET (1805 GMT)
Starchaser Nova 2 spacecraft

Starchaser, a British company competing for the X Prize, unveiled Thursday a small capsule the company plans to test fly later this year. The single-seat Nova 2 capsule, 3 meters long and weighing 200 kg, was shown to the public for the first time Thursday at a hotel in Hyde, England. Starchaser plans to take the spacecraft to the US in the near future to conduct a series of drop tests from an aircraft flying 4,200 meters over a dry lake bed in northwestern Arizona to test the spacecraft’s parachutes and landing gear. If successful, the spacecraft will be launched on Starchaser’s Nova rocket on a manned flight to about 9,000 meters. Starchaser, led by Stephen Bennett, plans to use the Nova 2 as a basis for a larger vehicle, Thunderbird, which would compete for the $10 million X Prize. Starchaser is planning the first Thunderbird flight in late 2004 or early 2005.