Global Flyer is successful. Now what, and why?

[Ready4Change]

Most of the classic, big aviation "firsts" have now been completed. Crossing the English channel. Crossing the Atlantic. Reaching the poles. Circling the globe. Non-stop for all those things. Solo for those things. Unrefueled for those things.

So what's the next thing for the adventurous humans out there? Did SpaceshipOne open the door to civilian space based firsts? More man-powered records? Solar powered records?

If you could pick some "first" type feat to accomplish, what would it be, and why?

(Note: I'm thinking aviation firsts, but you could include things like ocean exploration, mountain climbing, etc...)

[Oreo]

1. Here's mine

flying around the earth really really fast... backwards and turning back time so that that darn earthquake doesn't happen.

I'm more into the X Prize type of firsts

[FogerRox]

3. Bring an Fe based Asteriod into a La Grange point to be melted down

and used for assembling a Construct in Space.

[Ready4Change]

5. Could make a lot of people nervous.

Racing to move around iron (Fe, yes?) asteroids could involve serious hazards for people on Earth. I'd imagine there'd need to be some serious regulations to make sure no one drops a big rock on New York.

That said, I like the idea. Would foster research in a lot of areas. Space scanning techniques to locate asteroids requiring less energy to get into the La Grange. A space tug of sorts to get out to the rock and bring it back. It also presumes a facility in the La Grange to do the work.

Would be cool.

[FogerRox]

7. Scardy cat --LOL-- L4 & L5 are like 1/6th of an AU from Earth

An AU is what like 98 million miles ? --so that would be

radius X Pi ? = about 300 million miles---1/6th of that is about 50 million miles

Either that or crash the thing into the moon real slow--and use it on the moon--if you wanted to use Iron to build on the moon. Since the moon is iron poor, that might work out nice.
Then there are the impurities--Platinum and some other unimportant stuff.

[Ready4Change]

8. Heheh, fair enough.

It is too early to be paranoid.

However, while La Granges are a ways out, how far do you need to go to find an Fe asteroid? When bringing in something from much further out, isn't 1/6th AU relatively small change?

[FogerRox]

11. There near Earth "roids" that normally pass close by- 'tween EArth

and Mars--say. Otherwise just past Mars there is a belt--full of them.
L4 and L5 are 60 degrees in front and in back of EArth--but in EArths orbit.
IIRC L1-L2 and L3 are much closer-L2 would be 'tween the Earth and moon--but much closer to the moon. IIRC L1 is sun side of Earth while L3 is out past the moon. ALL follow the Earths orbit, and are static in that regard--IIRC.

[Ready4Change]

19. At current tech, past Mars is too far.

Perhaps some of the Earth/Mars rocks, though.

Haven't people wondered of other junk might naturally collect in the L points? I assume they've been looked over?

[Ready4Change]

4. X-Prize is a great example.

By setting a goal to be achieved, it gave people something concrete to shoot for. Without the X-Prize offer, how much longer might it have taken for a civilian program to have gotten into space?

So, if you had 10 million dollars to set aside as a prize, what goal would you set?

[Oreo]

13. Here's the new X Prize

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviation/article/0,20967,1027551,00.html

The public has seen this vision for decades—another hopeless dreamer’s space fantasy. But here there’s a difference: Bigelow is betting $500 million of his personal fortune that he can make it come true. He has hired veteran space-travel engineers to perfect the technology, he has produced nearly launch-ready hardware for testing, and he’s floating a $50-million prize to entice other companies to create a safe, reliable orbital space vehicle to transport guests to the front door—or rather, the airlock. Even five years ago, this plot would have seemed utterly implausible. But with Burt Rutan’s recent Ansari X Prize triumph—his company, Scaled Composites, won a $10-million competition for the successful, repeated launch of a manned suborbital space vehicle—and the subsequent creation of Virgin Galactic to capitalize on Rutan’s technology for tourist spaceflights, Bigelow’s project provides an intriguing new twist in the development of a commercial spaceflight industry.

[FogerRox]

15. Yeah--something the size of a Shuttle fuel tank---sounds easy--

[Oreo]

16. I'm from Jersey? Are you from Jersey?

I grew up in West Orange

[FogerRox]

20. W.O.-get on valley st. and go south to S.O.

[Ready4Change]

2. To be fair, I'll start:

What: Solo, man-carrying, New York to Paris purely solar powered.

Why: In the shadow of the end of oil, I want to give the world reason to believe we can accomplish great things via alternative energy.

Part of the reason Lindberg attempted his flight was to demonstrate the viability of aircraft for transportation. It was quite a while before passagers were able to follow in his trans-Atlantic footsteps.

I think the same will be true of alternative energy. The first use of it will likely be impractical for general use, but it will point the way for future improvements.

And no, I haven't started doing anything remotely like this. I just think it would be a great idea.

[Billy Ruffian]

22. Solar powered aircraft

NASA had a solar powered project. IIRC, it was lost, but the technology was working pretty well.

[Speck Tater]

6. Solo walk around the world.

With floating shoes, of course, for the watery part of the journey.

Or for half the distance, a solo walk from pole to pole. Using the floating shoes only from Antarctica to the tip of South America that could be a mostly land-based stroll.

[Jacobin]

9. Human piloted dive to the Marianna's Trench

Seven miles deep.

(bring crash helmet and pool toys)

[Billy Ruffian]

23. It's been done

The Trieste bathyscape, IIRC

[DemoTex]

10. Fossett made this 22,000+ mile flight on about 270 gals fuel.

In order to qualify as around-the-world by the international aviation record sanctioning body, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the flight must be at least the length of the Tropic of Cancer (about 22,800 statute miles). That works out to about 85-mpg for a jet-powered (single Williams FJ44-3 ATW "Cruise Missile" fan-jet) airplane flying at a planned speed of near 300 mph.

Now what, and why?, you asked.

Designed by Burt Rutan's California-based Scaled Composites (which recently won the $10-million "X Prize" for sending a privately-designed three-person craft into space twice in two weeks), the GlobalFlyer is a derivative of earlier Rutan designs. Future Rutan iterations and derivatives will only enhance these amazing performance figures. That is the way Burt works. Solo round-the-world powered flight was never Rutan's ultimate goal. It is a step in a process of man/machine optimization.

Low drag profiles allow smaller engines to be used. Smaller engines burn less fuel with less pollution. Higher wing-sweep (an Ed Swearingen design-driver) also allows smaller engines and greater economy. There are many different ways to approach the problem of maximizing aircraft efficiency while minimizing environmental impact. Rutan, IMO, is running one of the best labs in the world in studying these problems, developing innovative solutions, and testing their theories with spectacular results.

[FogerRox]

12. Back in the 1920's and 1930's it was Jack Northrop, and his flying wings

Zimmerman and his flying Flapjack, and the german Horton Brothers who also designed Flying wings--but who did not solve the problem of how air spilled over the wing--creating turbulance, Northrop had hired Herb (SP?) Haskanhas who developed the "LAminar flow wing", which was 1st utilized on the P-51 Mustang--which is one of the reasons why the Mustang was clocked at Mach 1.1 in a wind tunnel in 1947.
Herb was in charge of the control surface team for the Northrop flying wing project during WW2.

Mr. Rutan stands on the shoulders of some good people that went before him, and continues to uphold the highest standards.

[DemoTex]

14. Clarence "Kelly" Johnson also comes to mind (Lockheed "Skunk-works").

"Kelly" designed the P-38 Lightning, the F-80 (America's first production jet), the F-104 "Starfighter", the U-2 of "Cold-War fame, and the SR-71/YF-12 "Blackbird," among others.


P-38


F-104A


U-2


YF-12s

[FogerRox]

17. Hmm yeah-but the P-38 suffered from near unfixable compressability

The lightning and the Mustang had compressability problems--but the lightning HAD to have a wing fix.
The P-38 was also transonic, most likely.
And the Laminar flow wing is still the standard today.

[Billy Ruffian]

24. IIRC, the P-38 was one of the hot planes in the Pacific

I've seen a picture of hundreds of P-38s pushed into a pile at the end of the war. When you consider how few are left flying, it's enough to make you cry.

[Ready4Change]

18. Proposing an aircraft milage goal?

100mpg, corrected for winds? Interesting idea, as aircraft have been fuel wasters, up till now.

I'm looking for goals that can be set, then accomplished. Man/machine optimization is an interesting concept, but its a direction, not a finish line.

[Jacobin]

21. Rutan is a national treasure

It's amazing to see what he has done in a small shop with very little money (compared to a Boeing or Lockheed)