Re: Rutan spaceplane

----- Original Message -----
From: "Imre A. Szabo" <ias@sprintmail.com>
> You miss the entire point.  That is exactly what it does, but it is
> PRIVATELY FUNDED, therefore it does so at a SMALL FRACTION OF THE COST
OF
A
> GOVERNMENT PROGRAM to do the samething.

Who says it isn't a government program ? The source of the funding isn't
stated

What is the cost of Rutan's program ? I didn't see it mentioned in the
MSNBC
page, and the Rutan FAQ's
http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/faq/faq.htm
states:
"How much does it all cost?
This is generally not known until the program is complete, but
projections
place it close to a Soyuz ride."

Accounting can be quite a creative art, so everything about this must be
taken with a grain of salt..

For the X-15, here's a page with a summary of its cost.
http://www.abo.fi/~mlindroo/spacemarkets/sld008.htm
It puts a single flight at 10 Million US$ at today's prices

> This is a step to the future, not
> the future itself.  If they can put that manned spaceship into a
suborbital
> position twice within two weeks, they will not only win the x-prize,
but
> will also have done something the X-15 did not, go suborbital in a
mostly
> reusable vehicle (they will probably have to replace parts of the
rocket
> engine between flights),

The X-15 was reusable and had an average of 20 flights/year (max.32).

> and enviromental control system that does not require space suits.

That's true.

Certainly an impressive achievement. But Burt Rutan is a talent in a
class
of his own.

Greetings
Karl Heinz