I’ve just learned that Rocketplane has in fact approached the FAA about their spaceship in progress. I don’t know anything beyond that at this point, will let you know when I do.
[sqeak-squeak-squeak]
That’s the sound of me backpedaling just a bit. Seems Rocketplane really is serious about following through. I apologize for suggesting otherwise.
I remain skeptical about the company’s plan, but I’d like to be proven wrong. I say a good healthy dose of skepticism never hurt anyone about to climb into a commercial spaceship fueled with explosive liquids. Keep the feedback coming….
Liquid explosives? Do you mean like gasoline?
Kerosene and liquid oxygen, a highly explosive combo. Virgin’s ships will use non-exposive synthetic rubber and nitrous oxide.
for really good feedback, see The Hybrid Myth Continues at transterrestrial.com, a good place to learn things
Got it, and thanks for that. Have been reading it with interest. And still not convinced that liquid rockets are as safe as hybrids. Toss liquid oxygen and kerosene together and light a match and they’ll explode. Can’t do that with asphalt and nitrous.
But gasoline in a constrained environment like your car’s gas tank will explode as well but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone from driving. Its a combination of factors that includes the materials plus the safety factors and history of the system that determine the safety of a system.
I’d like to add that much of the public’s opinion about Burt’s design is based on missinformation. Burt is a Salesman, he’s sold a lot of ideas and has been a commercial failure on every attempt. He’s a GREAT thinker, and a great point designer, but just as a reference check out SS2 Faces Major Design Decisions. There are a lot of issues with their design, and none of them have been done before… everything about rocketplane is off the shelf, just never combined commercially for civilians!