cbs@geac.UUCP (Chris Syed) (10/18/88)
I have been away for some time. I apologise if these things have
been discussed.
While in some country or other, (England maybe), I heard a snatch
of TV or radio news mentioning plans for 2 US commercial launches
in the near future, using good ole missile-type vehicles.
One was supposed to involve a small dog, who would be brought back to
terra firma and become the mascot for an new line of toys. It was, I
think, to be a suborbital flight launched from the Cape. Has this
happened?
Along those lines, do Getaway Specials still exist?
Also, with all the recent talk of shuttle designs, I am reminded of an
article by one of the UK netters about an air-breathing shuttle
BAC (I think) was designing for Her Majesty's Gov't. Is this programme
completely utterly dead?
{uunet!mnetor,unicus,yunexus,}!geac!cbs (Chris Syed) 5432ds@homxc.UUCP (E.BERLINER) (10/20/88)
In article <3433@geac.UUCP>, cbs@geac.UUCP (Chris Syed) writes: <stuff> > Also, with all the recent talk of shuttle designs, I am reminded of an > article by one of the UK netters about an air-breathing shuttle > BAC (I think) was designing for Her Majesty's Gov't. Is this programme > completely utterly dead? A recent edition of AW&ST (no more than a week or two ago) mentioned that the HOTOL effort was no longer being funded by the British Government, but that British Aerospace (the renamed BAC) is in negotiations with some private concerns ( no names mentioned) for the continuation of development. Not quite dead, but the pulse and blood pressure are dangerously low I would say. Typical (British) Governmental (of any political flavor) response to matters aerospace. David Smith (AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel, NJ. homxc!5432ds)
kev@ist.CO.UK (News reading a/c for kevin) (10/20/88)
From article <3433@geac.UUCP>, by cbs@geac.UUCP (Chris Syed): > [...] > > Also, with all the recent talk of shuttle designs, I am reminded of an > article by one of the UK netters about an air-breathing shuttle > BAC (I think) was designing for Her Majesty's Gov't. Is this programme > completely utterly dead? > > {uunet!mnetor,unicus,yunexus,}!geac!cbs (Chris Syed) Following the Leaderine's invocation of our version of the Emergency Powers Act, anyone caught communicating on topics of National Security, such as Hotol, with foreign powers will be sentenced to catching the 23:15 Lager Lout Special from Liverpool Street whilst sober! [Sorry! Wrong newsgroup for political/social comments] It appears as though British Aerospace's (BAe) Hotol project has been swept under the carpet again. BAe want to proceed but are not prepared to unless the cost can be shared with someone else. HMG is not prepared to spend anything on it (or anything else if they can help it), but will permit BAe to look for other investors, as long as they are not foreign to the UK - for reasons of NATIONAL SECURITY. Naturally there are no indigenous companies prepared to invest/risk large sums of money on the venture. The designer (whether of the engines alone or the project in general, I'm uncertain) apparently is the modern day equivalent of Barnes Wallace and Frank Whittle, and has publicly stated that his baby WILL be built, and that as HE holds the copyrights he would 'defect' to the highest bidder should the project be stopped. HMG informed him that this would break the Official Secrets Act... etc.,etc. Now, I've written this with no research, so the information I've given MAY be incorrect. I am relying on memory and the television news over the past few months. I can confirm that BAe were handing out sheets about Hotol on their stand at Farnborough in September, but I'm afraid I'm not going to wade through back issues of Flight and New Scientist to get to the ACTUAL current situation :-). I hope someone else would correct me if I'm wrong. Kev Holmes kev@ist.CO.UK Imperial Software Technology Home Bone (44) 252 547902 Reading, Royal Berkshire, UK. "In fact, we're going so fast that controlling the ship is a real brown-trouser job." - Holly, Red Dwarf
bob@etive.ed.ac.uk (Bob Gray) (10/21/88)
In article <372@istop.ist.CO.UK> kev@ist.CO.UK (News reading a/c for kevin) writes: >It appears as though British Aerospace's (BAe) Hotol project has been >swept under the carpet again. BAe want to proceed but are not prepared to >unless the cost can be shared with someone else. HMG is not prepared to >spend anything on it (or anything else if they can help it), but will >permit BAe to look for other investors, as long as they are not foreign >to the UK - for reasons of NATIONAL SECURITY. .... Not quite. HMG has mentioned that the Japanese would be a good choice of partners. The paranoia that HMG has about National Security will quickly disappear if a big enough profit can be made out of it. Especially if some other country will pay for it. >venture. The designer (whether of the engines alone or the project in >general, I'm uncertain) apparently is the modern day equivalent of >Barnes Wallace and Frank Whittle, and has publicly stated that his baby >WILL be built, and that as HE holds the copyrights he would 'defect' to >the highest bidder should the project be stopped. HMG informed him that >this would break the Official Secrets Act... etc.,etc. Alan Bond. He designed the engines and demonstrated that his designs WILL work if built. He claims to have raised 120 million pounds to finance the second stage of development work. He also said that the OSA wouldn't stop him going abroad to continue development if he could'nt in this country. One footnote. The Indian Government's Ministry of defence is said to be interested in the engines. They have produced an idea which would nearly triple the proportion of cargo to take off weight. They want to take off with empty O2 tanks, and cruise in the upper atmosphere (25 miles up) at Mach 6 and liquefy and store O2 for later use outside the atmosphere. Bob.
ret@lfcs.ed.ac.uk (Richard Eyre Todd) (10/22/88)
kev @ ist.CO.UK ( 20 Oct 88 ) writes : >It appears as though British Aerospace's (BAe) Hotol project has been >swept under the carpet again. BAe want to proceed but are not prepared to >unless the cost can be shared with someone else. HMG is not prepared to >spend anything on it (or anything else if they can help it), but will >permit BAe to look for other investors, as long as they are not foreign >to the UK - for reasons of NATIONAL SECURITY. Naturally there are no >indigenous companies prepared to invest/risk large sums of money on the >venture. The British government have indeed declined the opportunity to invest further hard cash in the HOTOL project. The good news however is that a group of anonymous city backers have come forward to provide the necessary funding for the next three years. To this end a corporate vehicle has been created, which will be known as the HOTOL Development Corporation. Negotiations are presently underway. No hard contracts have been signed as yet, so further discussion at the present time is speculative and may be prejudicial. I will post an update when further information becomes available. >The designer (whether of the engines alone or the project in >general, I'm uncertain) apparently is the modern day equivalent of >Barnes Wallace and Frank Whittle, and has publicly stated that his baby >WILL be built, and that as HE holds the copyrights he would 'defect' to >the highest bidder should the project be stopped. HMG informed him that >this would break the Official Secrets Act... etc.,etc. bob @ etive.ed.ac.uk (Bob Gray) ( 21 Oct 88 ) responds : >Alan Bond. He designed the engines and demonstrated that his >designs WILL work if built. In 'Spaceflight News' (October 1988) Alan Bond is quoted : "Some of the areas of major difficulty have been examined to a level where solutions are known to exist, but that is a far cry from actually having the technology all buttoned down such that you know there's not going to be something nasty pop up when you've got to go on to develop and produce vehicles. The whole object of this next stage of the [HOTOL] program is really to address those areas with the right level of effort, such that you have a complete 'technology map' of all the difficult areas of the vehicle". The more astute news.reader will note that, in all probability, the public relations department of the HDC will take over from Alan Bond's 'freelance' reporting of the project status in the future :-). > Richard Eyre-Todd. Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh. > JANET: ret@uk.ac.ed.ecsvax | Solid fuel is for camp-fires, > UUCP: ...!mcvax!ukc!ed.ecsvax!ret | not boosting Space Shuttles. :-)