Пол Аллен и Рутан

Rutan starts work on new light aircraft

By: STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC 05:00 7 Nov 2011

Aircraft designer Burt Rutan is working on a new aviation project in the Idaho lake house where he retired only seven months ago after a 45-year career that produced SpaceShipOne, Voyager and dozens of other ground-breaking air vehicles.

"I found after working on 40 airplanes in 40 years it probably is impossible to stop," Rutan said in an exclusive interview. "So I'm working on a new one."

Rutan provided few details about the new project, saying only that it uses new technology and is a "small, light thing".

The design has progressed far enough to be assigned a designation in Rutan's personal system - Model 372-3, Rutan said.

It is rare for Rutan to divulge any information about a new project before first flight. If the project fails, it is unlikely that any details will be revealed.

"If it doesn't work you'll probably never hear [more] about it," Rutan said.

The terms "small" and "light" may bring cheer to Rutan's fans in the general aviation market.

Rutan achieved his first commercial success in the home-built market long before he worked on suborbital spacecraft, round-the-world aircraft and the Beech Starship.

In the mid-1970s, Rutan sold plans for home-builders to make a series of iconic aircraft such as the Vari-Eze and Long-EZ, which featured forward canards and pusher-engines. That success allowed him to launch the Scaled Composites research and prototyping company in 1982, giving him the financial freedom to pursue his own projects.

"There are people, especially in the home-built community, who say, 'Wouldn't it be neat if Burt designed another airplane?'" said Dick Knapinski, communications director of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).

The EAA honoured Rutan at this year's AirVenture fly-in in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Rutan did not mention a new aircraft at the event in July, but some in the EAA suspect he may be working on a new project.

"He always leaves the sentence somewhat open at the end," Knapinski said, describing Rutan's responses to questions about his retirement activity.

"The fact that he's working on another design doesn't surprise us whatsoever," Knapinski added.

Although he is working on a new project, Rutan said he is enjoying his partial retirement. Health concerns were partly responsible for driving him to retire from Scaled Composites on 31 March. Even then, Rutan said he was aware some people believed he would keep working.

"The fact that my first day off work just happened to be April Fools' day did seem to raise some eyebrows," he said.

 

New giant plane to launch people, cargo into orbit
Updated 10:19 a.m., Tuesday, December 13, 2011

SEATTLE (AP) — Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan say they are building a giant airplane and spaceship to zip people and cargo into orbit.
Their plane will have a wingspan longer than a football field. It will carry a space capsule with its own booster rocket high into the air. Then the plane will launch the spaceship, which will rocket to orbit. This method saves money by not using rocket fuel to get off the ground.
The first test is scheduled for 2016.
The duo won a prize in 2004 with a private spaceship that went into space, but not orbit. They announced their plans on Tuesday.
The spaceship and booster will be provided by another Internet tycoon, Elon Musk of PayPal, who has built a successful commercial rocket.

 

New operating system for space: High-tech tycoons

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen made the latest step Tuesday, unveiling plans for a new commercial spaceship that, instead of blasting off a launch pad, would be carried high into the atmosphere by the widest plane ever built before it fires its rockets. Musk, whose Space Exploration Technologies will send its Dragon capsule to dock with the International Space Station in February, will provide the capsule and booster rocket for Allen's venture, which is called Stratolaunch. Bezos set up the secretive private space company Blue Origin, which has received $3.7 million in NASA start-up funds to develop a rocket to carry astronauts. NASA, in a statement, welcomed Allen to the space business, saying his plan "has the potential to make future access to low-Earth orbit more competitive, timely, and less expensive." Unlike its competitors, Allen's company isn't relying on start-up money from NASA, which is encouraging private companies to take the load of hauling cargo and astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station. The space agency, which retired the space shuttle fleet earlier this year, plans to leave that more routine work to private companies and concentrate on deep space human exploration of an asteroid, the moon and even Mars. Allen said his interest comes not just because of the end of the shuttle program or changes in government funding for space, but he does see an incredible opportunity right now for the private sector to move the needle on space travel.

// www.seattlepi.com

 

5 апреля 2011 года Элон Маск анонсировал РН Falcon Heavy, первый запуск которой будет осуществлён в конце 2012 года с базы ВВС США Ванденберг. Второй запуск будет осуществлён с мыса Канаверал в конце 2013—2014 году. Новая ракета позволит выводить до 53 тонн полезного груза на низкую опорную орбиту.