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Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: Masten, new contender in the RLV market - Looks at DC-X an RVT as inspiration.

http://masten-space.com/]Masten-Space

They're coming thick and fast, lately: the sub-orbital private businesses.

However, this one looks quite sound: start off with a simple thing, 100kg (200pound) payload to the now familiar 100km height.
Launch several times a day, test 'till it breaks, use the payload for science-packages (ie a reusable sounder-rocket)

Sound like Skunkworks, yay!

(Oh, and they're working semi-together with Carmack of Armadillo...)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 28,882

Re: Masten, new contender in the RLV market - Looks at DC-X an RVT as inspiration.

Xprize contest team that has a simular looking rocket.
http://www.xprize.org/teams/american_acceleration.php

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 28,882

Re: Masten, new contender in the RLV market - Looks at DC-X an RVT as inspiration.

The Ansari X Prize hopes to do the same for space tourism. Scaled Composites’ chief engineer, Burt Rutan, believes that eventually passengers could experience a brief space voyage at a cost of $30,000 to $50,000 per person, with prices dropping in the long run to $10,000 to $12,000 each.
It is unclear what effect the popularity of the Ansari X Prize will have on U.S. government space spending.

http://www.easttexasreview.com/story.htm?StoryID=1855

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 28,882

Re: Masten, new contender in the RLV market - Looks at DC-X an RVT as inspiration.

Aug. 17, 2004 | 6 p.m. ET
Space-race updates on the World Wide Web:
• Flight International: Could SpaceShipOne go orbital?
http://www.flightinternational.com/fi_issu....ode=106
• X Prize Foundation: Argentine rocketeers test escape tower
http://www.xprize.com/press_r....0040813
• Masten Space Systems: New entrant in suborbital market
http://masten-space.com/
• The Guardian: Space travel goes sailing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/space/article … 27,00.html

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 28,882

Re: Masten, new contender in the RLV market - Looks at DC-X an RVT as inspiration.

Da Vinci rocket pilot faces real dangers

http://www.canada.com/saskato....2ae54ca

Sophisticated aerodynamics, physics and engineering will propel Brian Feeney's attempt at the world's first private space mission, but these measures won't eliminate the danger of his planned launch from Kindersley and subsequent return to Earth.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 28,882

Re: Masten, new contender in the RLV market - Looks at DC-X an RVT as inspiration.

As we grow nearer to the time when the xprize will be won we need to ask those would be Astronauts to Weigh Acceptable Risk as they prepare for flight.

snipet:
It's a tiny drama in the history of space flight -- an argument between a do-it-yourself Canadian astronaut and doubters alarmed he's about to foolishly expose himself and others to harm by blasting off in a largely untested rocket ship.

http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697, … _tophead_3

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 28,882

Re: Masten, new contender in the RLV market - Looks at DC-X an RVT as inspiration.

While they did not win the prize they have continued on with NASA anad Have been working on ADAPT which we have been discussing in the small lander topic.

Successful Test Flights for Mars Landing Technology

The ADAPT test system can help a spacecraft divert its course and make a smooth, pinpoint landing. The system is built on Masten's XA-0.1B "Xombie" vertical-launch, vertical-landing reusable rocket

This is all part of that accuracy in landing near a target that awaits the crew upon arrival to Mars on the surface.

It's tricky to get a spacecraft to land exactly where you want. That's why the area where the Mars rover Curiosity team had targeted to land was an ellipse that may seem large, measuring 12 miles by 4 miles (20 by 7 kilometers).

So why this vehicle test platform?

The Xombie platform provides a good approximation of Mars-like descent conditions through high-speed descent rates at low altitudes. Those conditions are difficult to achieve through conventional flight test platforms. Onboard this rocket, two sophisticated lander technologies were recently tested: Terrain Relative Navigation with a sensor called the Lander Vision System (LVS), and the Guidance for Fuel-Optimal Large Diverts (G-FOLD) algorithm.

ADAPT had two successful test flights, one on Dec. 4, 2014, and the second on Dec. 9. In both cases, the rocket reached a maximum altitude of 1,066 feet (325 meters) before beginning its descent. The combination of LVS and G-FOLD allowed the Xombie rocket to begin to change the course of its descent at about 623 feet (190 meters) in the air on December 9. The rocket then flew the newly calculated course to successfully reach the target landing pad located 984 feet (300 meters) to the east.

The terrain-relative navigation capability provided by LVS allows Xombie to precisely determine its position without requiring GPS. To do so, ADAPT first takes a series of pictures of the terrain below it during descent. These pictures are then compared to an image of the terrain stored onboard, allowing the vehicle to autonomously find its position relative to the landing site. The spacecraft can then use this information to correct its course to get as close to the targeted landing site as possible within its capability, and make a smooth, pinpoint landing.

Simple photographs and high speed software to change target location making a landing intact...

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 28,882

Re: Masten, new contender in the RLV market - Looks at DC-X an RVT as inspiration.

The Rocket Man Who Wants To Beat the Billionaires

Dave Masten stares at his computer screen, finger poised over the mouse button. He knows that opening this email, sent by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon's advanced technology lab, will change his life. One way or the other.

This email is the fulcrum of his future. It is either an acceptance letter or a rejection letter for his company's proposal to build what DARPA calls XS-1: an experimental unmanned space plane that can fly ten times in ten days, reaching a speed of Mach 10–plus and lifting payloads greater than three thousand pounds to orbit, at a cost of no more than $5 million per flight. Being accepted as one of the three competing contractors represents the best shot that Dave Masten—perennial underdog, Silicon Valley refugee, scrappy space-industry entrepreneur—will have to build a working spacecraft. It would mean an immediate infusion of $3 million, with more coming the next year. The final contract could be worth as much as $140 million.