Design
The design concept is to air launch a three-person piloted spacecraft which climbs to slightly above 100 km (62 mi) altitude using a hybrid rocket motor and then glides to the ground and lands horizontally. Scaled Composites lists the following components of the program:
- launch aircraft (White Knight)
- three-seater human-rated spacecraft (SpaceShipOne)
- hybrid rocket propulsion system
- mobile propulsion test facility
- flight simulator
- inertial-nav flight director
- mobile mission control center
- spacecraft systems
- pilot training program
- flight test program
Read more about this topic: Scaled Composites Tier One
Famous quotes containing the word design:
“Delay always breeds danger; and to protract a great design is often to ruin it.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)
“I begin with a design for a hearse.
For Christ’s sake not black—
nor white either—and not polished!
Let it be weathered—like a farm wagon—”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“The reason American cars don’t sell anymore is that they have forgotten how to design the American Dream. What does it matter if you buy a car today or six months from now, because cars are not beautiful. That’s why the American auto industry is in trouble: no design, no desire.”
—Karl Lagerfeld (b. 1938)