http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/ Engadget Comments for WhiteKnightTwo scheduled to rollout in July, fly in September http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 9:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 9:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 10:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 11:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 12:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
Also, they have determined that Uranus is very gassy, but still plan to plunge a probe into its murky depths to learn more.

Ok, I'm done.]]>Jun 10th 2008 5:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 9:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 9:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
The space shuttle has two major flaws that keep it from being a competitive launch platform:

1. Not reusable: only parts of the shuttle are reusable, and even those have extremely high maintenance costs (solid rocket boosters need to be fished out of the ocean, tiles need to be substituted on the shuttle itself)

2. extremely complex (and outdated) technology that keeps the shuttle from flying as often as it was desired (originally it was thought that 1 flight per week could be achieved).

The shuttle was supposed to deliver cheap and frequent earth to orbit and it has failed in that mission: that is why NASA is going back to the original apollo approach with the upcoming new family of launch vehicles (I forget the name right now).

Andrea]]>Jun 10th 2008 9:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/

]]>Jun 10th 2008 9:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
I had never heard the 1.3 billion dollar figure, but here's something for you to think about: the entire SpaceShipOne program (with WhiteKnightOne) cost only $30 million to develop.

I go to AirVenture in OshKosh every year that I can. A couple years back I was able to listen to Burt Rutan (the mastermind behind these ships) talk about NASA and SpaceShipOne. They wanted to either buy or license the design in order to train their astronauts. Rutan told them that they could get in line for seats like everyone else.]]>Jun 10th 2008 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 11:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 11:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 11:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Who in their right mind would want to ride in one of the old shuttles. No one pay to do it. Now if you pay them, then they would. So basically, tell people if they wanna go to space, become an astronaut.

@Jacob
I live about 15mi away from the EAA grounds. I like to go just to see them drop the bombs. he he he...]]>Jun 10th 2008 11:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 9:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 10:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 11:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
Man, those are gonna be some uncomfortable seats.]]>Jun 10th 2008 9:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 9:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 9:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
I'm sure they didn't mean it that way anyway.]]>Jun 10th 2008 10:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 11:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 9:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 9:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 9:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 10:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/]]>Jun 10th 2008 10:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 10:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 10:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
"That’s quite a nice model, sir."

Model?

Now, to the plant! We'll take the Spruce Moose! Hop in!
But sir…

I said Get In!]]>Jun 10th 2008 11:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
"That’s quite a nice model, sir."

"Model?
Now, to the plant! We'll take the Spruce Moose! Hop in!"

"But sir…"

"I said Get In!"

(Sorry, I ran out of Zoolander quotes, the Simpsons will have to do)]]>Jun 10th 2008 11:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 10:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
Looks like three conventional plane bodies spliced together in some sort of strange mad science experiment...

Come to think of it, he does look a bit like a mad scientist in that photo...]]>Jun 10th 2008 10:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_Lightning
]]>Jun 10th 2008 10:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SpaceShipOne_WhiteKnight.jpg]]>Jun 10th 2008 11:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
It just looks like such a massive wingspan with multiple bodies hung from it would fail. Perhaps keeping the weight of the aircraft light is the secret?]]>Jun 10th 2008 1:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
What would cause it to fail? Massive wingspan = more lift. Just more difficult to get off the ground, but it has 4 engines. And the two fueselages are fairly small. And yes, being all composite i'm sure its fairly light.]]>Jun 10th 2008 6:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 11th 2008 3:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 10:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
I'm typing to you on computerfour.
Meet my offspring, sonone.
Meet my spouse, wifethirtyseven
And this here, this is my wang, peternumbertwo.]]>Jun 10th 2008 11:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 10:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/

They taped 3 airplanes together.]]>Jun 10th 2008 10:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/]]>Jun 10th 2008 11:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 10:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
If they connect the tail wings together it mite work but its atill a rather ungainly contraption and it would be a lot better to use a belly mount on a large aircraft or mount it on top of a large plane like when NASA moves the shuttle around.

The germans tryed a similar contraption in WW2, but I can see this engineer hasn't studyed other engineering dead ends or failures.

There is an old saying "He who doesn't remember history is destined to relive it." Can't rember who said it or the exact wording, but he was a pretty smart man.

As to the shuttle it was made by engineers, probably some of the smartest in the world but they also have no mechanical ability. And much of the engineering was done in other older NASA projects by "Old School" engineers, People who had mechanical ability and went into the right field for them, nowadays people decied to take the wrong paths for their talents and this is why you get these simple things being problems and this is why people die in acedents that never should have happened in the first place.

All they have to do to fix the orbiters tile problem is to cover them with a titanium shell and then the insulating foam won't smash the heat tiles, Duh, its so simple, any mechanicly inclined person would think of it but book learned, computer jockeys have no way to do.

But in todays world, NASA is made of bookworm / computer-neers who are smart as hell, but have no idea how to build things.

Thats why it costs 300billion to send a toy to mars, when if they had some mechanicly inclined people they could have sent a maned mission with rovers and a plane and a permenant structure and had a bunch of money left over

With 300billion you could buy a mine, hell a few of them, a metal smelting plant, a machine shop, a chemical plant, an air field, a control center, an assembly building, a crawler / launch platform, satalight dishes, and pay a bunch of people $50,000 a year for a few years, and had money left over for R&D and publisity and be making huge profits from all the spin off products.

$300 billion is a hell of a lot of money. (300,000,000,000) thats a lot of zeros.

You give me 300 billion and I'll teraform mars, I won't live to see it but in a few hundred years people will be up there living in earth like conditions.

]]>Jun 10th 2008 12:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
But go ahead, keep talking from your ass thinking you know it all.

You probably think physicists just sit there on the shitter smoking maryjane to come up with theories too, huh?]]>Jun 10th 2008 12:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/
Well, to be fair... and speaking as a mathematician... that's a fairly accurate view of most physicists' process.]]>Jun 10th 2008 1:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Jun 10th 2008 1:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/whiteknighttwo-scheduled-to-rollout-in-july-fly-in-september/Seriously do you have any idea of what the hell you're talking about?
Have you heard of the helios? The thing was built out of carbon fiber and styrofoam(the thing you use to make models) had a bigger wingspan than a 747, weighted only 2000lbs yet didn't break up in flight even though it was made of plastic. Gliders have thin wings yet don't break up in flight even when used for aerobatics. ]]>Jun 10th 2008 1:27PM