Thu, Jul 24, 2003
Drop Test Success, this Phase of Program Neary Complete
Starchaser Industries Limited
have successfully drop tested their Nova 2 rocket capsule from a
Fairfield C123K aircraft flying from Kingman (AZ). At precisely
6:15am MST on Tuesday, July 22, the cargo doors of the C123K were
opened and the capsule, piloted by parachute expert Ted Strong, was
released at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
A static line immediately deployed a 3meter drogue parachute to
stabilize the descent of the craft, which was travelling at
approximately 100 mph. Some five seconds later, the pilot oriented
the capsule into a horizontal position and then deployed the main
steerable canopy. He then flew the capsule "glider fashion" to a
precision landing at the Red Lake drop zone some 50 miles north of
Kingman.
Final Qualifying Flight Friday, July 25 (today!)
One further test flight will be conducted before British pilot
Steve Bennett takes control of the craft for its final qualifying
flight scheduled to take place at dawn on Friday (July 25). Once
this series of tests has been completed, the Nova 2 capsule will be
fitted atop the Starchaser 4 rocket in preparation for a manned
rocket flight to an altitude of at least 30,000 feet.
Weighing in at 250 kg and measuring 3 meters in length, the
single-seat Nova 2 capsule has become Britain's first manned rocket
capsule and has been developed to test a variety of systems for use
in project Thunderbird, Starchaser Industries' entry into the $10
million X PRIZE, which is the offer to the first non-governmental
organization capable of launching three people into space.
Starchaser Industries CEO and test pilot Steve Bennett, a
veteran of over 120 high-altitude skydives, said, "We have proved
the design of the rocket and capsule both on paper and in the air;
it's now time to show the world that we mean business and move on
to the manned phase of our rocket program."
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