Surprise and Progress

Surprise: Virgin Group and Google announce private Mars expeditions and colonies: “Project Virgle”.

(April 1, 2008)

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/announcing-project-virgle.html

It is disappointing that a private Mars expedition has to be part of an “April Fool's Joke”, rather than a real announcement! As outlined in our other BLOGS, a pioneering Mars expedition can most certainly be funded by a corporate sponsor. But, of course this means a minimum cost effort to show that the risks of such expeditions are manageable, and that commonly suggested mass and dollar budgets are grossly inflated. (The fictitious “Project Virgle” goes far beyond these minimums!)

For comparison, I invite any interested party to estimate the cost and schedule of perfecting a Cable Car to the top of Mount Everest so that this popular terrestrial objective can reached with “Reasonable Comfort and Safety”. Should we limit access to remote parts of our planet and solar system to adventurers or should we make access to them “OSHA” compliant?

Does the discovery of unexpected resources or scientifically interesting anomalies still depend on adventurous souls willing to tolerate risk and privations to “go where none have gone before”? If it does, then I have in fact found a few individuals willing to go (through "Astronauts Wanted")!

Back on Earth, Progress at Micro-Space continues. About 7 of the 14 Liquid Fuel Rocket Motors in our new batch are ready to run. Work continues on the others.

We are modifying our motor test system to run these higher thrust, long burn duration motors. In this process we are actually integrating much of the flight hardware and plumbing into the test system, so that it will become more of a “Hot Fire Test” of the flight system than an isolated motor test. At the same time we are finishing the plumbing and other hardware in our first two flight ready “Lunar Landers”. These will soon be operating in tethered flight.

Micro-Space is actively investigating the launch services of “UP Aerospace”, (http://www.upaerospace.us.com), since this organization offers relatively affordable space launch. Use the small number of paying customers served to date by this company as a warning about promoters who tout suborbital vehicles for “unmanned Zero G and Space Research”. That market is extremely small, and can be well served by operational UP Aerospace Launch Vehicles. Better, in fact, than by piloted suborbital vehicles because the experimental systems themselves can add risks and always do so if they include propulsion systems. It is much less expensive to test a risky space propulsion system on top of an expendable rocket that carried by a very expensive, piloted vehicle. And that is exactly what we have in mind.

We claim, and will strive to prove, that our present Lunar Lander systems can be used in space and fulfill the requirements of the Google Lunar X Prize. At 1/100 the lowest present cost for an orbital space launch, we can demonstrate and document the performance of our propulsion and control systems in near orbital flight, using the UP Aerospace “SpaceLoft® XL” vehicle.

The “SpaceLoft® XL” vehicle can carry our fueled Lander well above the atmosphere, proving in the process that it can tolerate large launch stresses. Several minutes in free fall is available for preignition procedures, and then space ignition of our rockets will be demonstrated.

Although neither orbital flight or escape velocity will be achieved, our Lander can then accelerate to above 3 km/second, achieve over 600 km apogee and demonstrate motor re-starts, attitude determination and control and other maneuvers for over 10 minutes in space. All communication procedures can also be tested and documented, including radio links between detached systems. Thus the performance of all our critical space systems can be validated in a low cost flight. The suborbital test can provide more Contiguous test time (with uninterrupted radio contact) than a low altitude orbital flight.

As always, Micro-Space is looking for ways to “whittle down” the cost of proving our systems in space so that the risk faced by a “Competition Flight Investor” is reduced. Micro-Space Lander flights in the next few months will be a major step in this process.