SpaceShipOne flight 16P

Flight 16P of SpaceShipOne is a spaceflight anticipated to take place on September 29 2004, which will be the first competitive flight in the Ansari X Prize competition to demonstrate a non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft. It should be the fifth powered flight of the Tier One program, and if successful will be the second privately-funded human spaceflight.

Scheduling

X Prize rules require that that date and place of competitive flights be notified to the X PRIZE Foundation at least 60 days before the flight. Due to problems encountered during flight 15P on June 21 2004, Scaled Composites did not immediately set a date for their competitive flights, suspecting that another test flight might be required. By July 7 2004 Burt Rutan reported that the faults had been resolved and the next flights would be competitive. On July 27 2004 the X PRIZE Foundation announced that Scaled Composites had given notice that they would make their first competitive flight on September 29 2004.

Payload

Ansari X Prize rules require competitive flights to carry 180 kg payload, to simulate two 90 kg human passengers. Scaled Composites has announced that the flight will carry ballast rather than live passengers. Most of the ballast will be lead, but the X PRIZE Foundation has arranged for competitive flights to carry the Explorers Club flag, which will be credited as payload.

Flight profile

As of July 2004, the pilot for the flight has not yet been publically announced.

The local civil time at the spaceport on the day of the flight is PDT, which is seven hours behind UTC.

The flight will takeoff from Mojave Spaceport in the early morning, when wind conditions are most favourable. On the previous flight, taxiing for takeoff was scheduled for 06:30. Takeoff can be expected before 07:00. Ascent to the launch altitude of around 14 km, coupled to White Knight, will take about an hour. At launch altitude, SpaceShipOne is expected to separate and then immediately ignite its rocket.

The rocket motor, upgraded since the previous flight, is capable of burning for approximately 80 s. It can be expected that this flight will perform a full-length burn, where previous flights have not in order to avoid pushing the envelope too far. It can be roughly guessed that the burn-out altitude will be in the region of 70 km, and the speed in the region of 1.2 km/s. After burn-out the craft will coast up to apogee somewhere around an altitude of 130 km. The target altitude for the X Prize is 100 km; only a very serious problem would prevent this being reached.

After apogee, SpaceShipOne will reenter the atmosphere in its feathered configuration, and then change to gliding configuration somewhere between 20 km and 10 km altitude. It will then glide back to the spaceport, to land around 25 minutes after launch.

Spectacle

As with SpaceShipOne's previous flight, a large crowd is expected to watch from Mojave Spaceport. Television coverage is also likely. Unfortunately, SpaceShipOne lauches to the east of the spaceport, which in the early morning means that it is in the same part of the sky as the sun for viewers at the spaceport. This makes viewing more difficult, and caution is required when viewing through binoculars and telescopes. Nevertheless, direct viewing the flight is entirely possible, and spectators can clearly see the takeoffs and landings of SpaceShipOne and its chase planes. Sonic booms are also part of the spectators' experience.

Later flights

To win the X Prize, SpaceShipOne must make two competitive flights within 14 days. If the September 29 2004 flight is successful, a second flight would have to follow by October 13 2004.

Scaled Composites has scheduled the second competitive flight, flight 17P, for October 4 2004, the 47th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1. There is a possibility of a third competitive flight (18P) occurring by October 13 2004, if either of the first two is not successful.

The da Vinci Project, another X Prize contender, plans to make its first competitive flight on October 2 2004. A race may develop to be first to make a second launch.