Great Rutan Quote

[catbirdseat]

A gleeful Rutan, celebrationg an apparently flawless flight by his private spacecraft, couldn't help poking fun at his favorite nemesis - big government space programs such as NASA and major aerospace contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed.

 

"I was thinking about how they're feeling, that other space agency...the Boeings and the Lockheeds...I think they're looking at each other now and saying, 'We're screwed,' ", he said to wide applause and laughter.

 

"We've only begun", said Rutan.

 

Source: Seattle PI, Tue. Oct. 5, 2004

[j_b]

puhleeze ... what would rutan do without the "big government space programs"? selling turnips rather than sending crafts in space.

 

in 10 years from now, he'll tell you he did it all by himself.

[foraker]

having been subcontracted to a job from lockheed at one time i can say that they are very much laughing at that comment right now. it's a great quote, if only for exposing his ego. ;-)

[Dave_Schuldt]

Rutan has been doing cuting edge stuff for over 20 years. I hope he keeps at it. So what if he has a big ego, he deserves it.

[jon]

I think they are looking at each other, while rolling around in the billions of dollars of black government contracts they have, and saying "Guess he's never been to Groom Lake."

[fenderfour]

Rutan can innovate, but he can't produce. That's why Boeing and Lockheed are here. He makes cutting edge designs that aren't commercially viable (for the most part) otherwise you would see them in the skies.

 

It's funny that Rutan assumes Boeing and Lockheed couldn't do what he did.

[cj001f]

Rutan can innovate, but he can't produce. That's why Boeing and Lockheed are here. He makes cutting edge designs that aren't commercially viable (for the most part) otherwise you would see them in the skies.

 

It's funny that Rutan assumes Boeing and Lockheed couldn't do what he did.

 

Boeing and Lockheed are here to guzzle your tax dollars.

 

Rutan correctly states that B & L couldn't do what he did with his budget.

[Stefan]

Can someone explaine something to me about this space thingy they built?

 

There is a big concern for reentry into Earth's orbit becuase an object could be burned up. Like the last shuttle.

In looking at the plane that won the prize, it does not appear to have any heat shield. Or is there a heat shield?

[selkirk]

It's a different type of reentry. It is heat shielded but since it's coming from a lower orbit it has less energy and hence isn't going nearly as fast.

 

And Rutan can produce, he's just never wanted to. Unlike Boeing and Lockheed, Scaled Composites is a little less driven by the bottom line. I think in the final analysis Rutan's in it because it's a hell of a lot fun for him. And who wants to build jet liners? There's no fun in that at all! From everything I've seen he deserves the ego he has. In fact he already has a deal with Virgin to begin doing space tourism and peanuts (1 or 2 hundred thousand a ride) and I think the White Knight is actually going to be doing some of the test drops for the shuttle replacement that's being developed by DARPA. (Does anyone have a clue why it was just moved from NASA to DARPA by the way?)

 

Kudos to him and the rest of the X-prize competitors.

[fenderfour]

B&L can't do anything on a respectable budget anymore. That's correct. What isn't correct is that "they're screwed"

 

"Boeing and Lockheed are here to guzzle your tax dollars."

 

think about that next time you fly anywhere.

[catbirdseat]

Look, the guy got into suborbital space on a budget of something like $25 million. With the $10 million prize and $21 million technology licensing agreement he has signed, he will make a profit on the venture. You gotta respect that.

 

It is quite true that Space One is a long way from orbital capability, but the true significance is that Rutan demonstrated a new pathway to low cost launches.

[ketch]

Stefan, There is still the concern about heat shielding. This plane is shielded, BUT, Rutan made a very differant approach as well. The shuttle comes in fast and comes down fast generating lots of heat. With this plane when they come down the wings fold into a differant shape that forces it to fall slowly but under control. (kind of like when you drop a paper cone, falls straight but not fast). The plane than comes down in a slow spiral (180 mph ish) until it is ready to start flying again. than they unfold the wings and start flying once more.

 

Hope that makes enough sense.

[catbirdseat]

Orbital flight would require a lot more shielding which weighs a lot more, even with the lower reentry angle. Achieving orbit with his concept would require everything to be bigger, heavier and more expensive.

 

With a larger orbital vehicle, the carrier plane (White Knight) would have to be made much bigger.

[dberdinka]

I'm no physicst but there is a HUGE difference between a suborbital vs orbital flight and the resulting reentry. To achieve orbit a vehicle has to reach some insane speed, I want to say 16,000 mph (I could be wrong). The Rutan vehicle reach Mach 3 or about 2,200 mph. Upon reentry a vehicle like the shuttle has that much more speed to blow off through braking i.e. friction with the atmosphere. Hot! Hot! Hot!

 

What the guy did is certainly cool but it's a LONG way from orbital entry/reentry.

[Stefan]

Thanks guys for the reentry engineering talk in plain English. I understand the general concepts now.

[klenke]

What are you guys talking about? The whole thing was faked on a soundstage in a backlot of Paramount Pictures. Vehicle was made of styrofoam and tinfoil. "Space" was a very large black curtain. Pilot was a showroom dummy. Geez, you guyzez ah so gullybull.

[cj001f]

"Boeing and Lockheed are here to guzzle your tax dollars."

 

think about that next time you fly anywhere.

 

On an L-1011? Or a 757? Or a 767?

 

Boeing isn't doing that well in commercial aerospace, Lockhead doesn't even compete anymore. They make their $ from defence contracting.