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The fuel/bomb pods on the old B-58 Hustler strategic bomber look to be about the same size as SpaceShipOne, the suborbital winner of the X-Prize. Instead of the slow launch plane they use now, if you could find a flying B-58 you could get up to mach 2 before you even lit SpaceShipOne's rocket. Might
even double how high it would go. Richard Branson, who's taken a great interest in the SpaceShipOne program, could probably buy one of these with change he found in the love seat of one of his private jets. (Assuming he lets hundreds of thousand of dollars in spare change fall out of his pocket when he sits down, as all Billionaires should.)
B-58 Hustler
http://www.aerospac...mber/b58/b58_04.jpg
I'm going for a cup of tea now.......... [normzone, May 21 2005]
Perfomance specs - B-58 Hustler
http://en.wikipedia...g/wiki/B-58_Hustler
[Klaatu, May 21 2005]
XB-70 Valkyrie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XB-70
[Laimak, May 21 2005]
[link]
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Larry Flynt is an aerospace advocate ? And the band that did "Rock Lobster" is involved ? I can hardly wait to see the paint job. |
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Another reason why space ... vast, empty domain ... doesn't appeal to me as it did when I was a kid: I want to ride slung under a B-58! |
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A far wealthier person than Branson already underwrites Spaceship One. |
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I just remembered that researching an idea I had for the X prize is how I found the bakery.
I think my idea was a large expandible doughnut shaped balloon with a rocket engine at the center.
Funding would have been a minor problem, though. |
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You're going to use energy to get up there & go that fast either way. But it'd be a good idea if you're going up with the B-58 anyway. Kill two stones with one bird. |
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Thank you for the link normzone. Beautiful shot. |
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The main purpose of the launch plane was altitude, not velocity, but a little extra speed never hurts. |
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Actually, this is a great idea. The service ceiling of the B-58 Hustler is over 13,000 feet higher than the White Knight<link>, and with the extra speed, they may be able to milk a bit more altitude out of SpaceShip One. [+] |
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Might as well pull an XB-70 Valkyrie out of the museum and use it. Was a beautiful plane and was retired due to a bad luck incident. See link. |
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If the Valkyrie uses supersonic compression lifting for its high-flying, then you'd screw everything up by toting SpaceShip One under its belly. |
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B-58 looks like it'd work, though. |
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//XB-70 Valkyrie// Dad was a hydraulics engineer on the B-70 construction. As a wee lad I was allowed in the hangar, once, and thought it was God. Bring it back, please. |
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SpaceShipOne is only 16.4 feet long, might even fit in the internal bay. |
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//might even fit in the internal bay// Hmm, I can believe SpaceShipOne withstands supersonic speeds in flight, but zero to Mach2+ in the time it takes to open the bay doors? |
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I completely fail to comprehend your anno, [TolpuddleSartre] |
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I was expecting a weight problem with this idea, but it turns out there’s 280kg to spare. However, intuitively (though I’m not qualified to say), I think there’s an aerodynamics problem. Spaceship One would ride *in* the shock wave of the B-58. This is bad, no? |
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Oh, and keep all doors and windows closed at mach 2 – dogs like to stick their head out. |
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[Laimak] I assume the bomb bay maintains zero airflow over its contents until the bay doors are opened. That is going to be one almighty shock hitting a lightweight structure in a very short time when they open - much shorter than the airframe would suffer if the spacecraft were to accelerate itself to that speed. Maybe I misunderstand aerodynamics, which, on the whole, is probably more than likely. |
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Bomb doors on a Concorde? (after all, the original idea was for a long-range, supersonic nuclear bomber as a development of the Vulcan) Mind you, Branson tried and failed to resurrect these too. Also, I agree that dropping the little plastic egg that makes up the fuselage of SS1 out into a Mach 2 airstream could rattle the windows a bit... |
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you could use a b-58 if you climbed at a very steep angle at max throttle. once the air got too thin for you to get much useful thrust, the plane would coast in a arc. the top of the arc would be the slowest point in the plane's travel. if the ascent was steep enough, the top point speed would only be a few hundred mph, very favorable for launching eggs into space... |
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What a fantastically thunderbird-style vehicle the B-58 is. |
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I think they're breathtaking to look at. I saw a documentary about the B-58 and all the macho, tough-guy pilots said it was the plane's beauty, first and foremost that drew them to want to fly it. One guy said: "It looked like it was going a hundred miles an hour just sitting on the tarmac." |
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