Not going fast enough. A suborbital is much easier than orbital, because of the difference in speed. On a suborbital you just have to get up there, then fall back down. For orbit you have to get up there and be going 17,000 mph sidewise so you can stay up there. All that kinetic energy has to go somewhere when you come back down. Currently the only thing we can do with it is turn it into a lot of heat.
A commercial orbital flight is certainly the holy grail, but the point of the X-Prize is just to get things going. I've heard that there will be a new X-Prize of $20 million for orbital after the sub-orbital one is claimed. And I know Rutan plans on going for orbit with an improved SS1.
There is probably some money to be made from suborbitals, however. Thrill seekers, certainly. I'd do it, given the cash. And how much would Fortune 500 CEOs pay to get to Tokyo in 2 hours?
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Re: Heat shield? Not?
A commercial orbital flight is certainly the holy grail, but the point of the X-Prize is just to get things going. I've heard that there will be a new X-Prize of $20 million for orbital after the sub-orbital one is claimed. And I know Rutan plans on going for orbit with an improved SS1.
There is probably some money to be made from suborbitals, however. Thrill seekers, certainly. I'd do it, given the cash. And how much would Fortune 500 CEOs pay to get to Tokyo in 2 hours?