Starchaser unveils manned spacecraft prototype
Posted: Fri, Apr 4, 2003, 1:05 PM ET (1805 GMT)
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.
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.| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Saturday, February 4
SSTL-OHB System Consortium to Build Eight More Galileo FOC Satellites
GPS World — 6:10 am ET (1110 GMT) De Veyrac: “Astrium should have a share”
Europolitics — 6:09 am ET (1109 GMT) Space tours to the Moon - why not?
Voice of Russia — 6:05 am ET (1105 GMT) Editorial: Liability Bill Expands Spaceport’s Synergy
Albuquerque Journal — 6:04 am ET (1104 GMT) Burt Rutan Returns for Another Shot at Space Travel
Aviation International News — 6:04 am ET (1104 GMT) |