Space Startup Scorecard 2009 January 17, 2009
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in ARCA, Armadillo Aerospace, Bigelow Aerospace, Blue Origin, Canadian Arrow, PlanetSpace, Rocketplane Kistler, Space Startups, SpaceDev, SpaceX, Starchaser, Tspace, UP Aerospace, X Class Orgs, XCOR.1 comment so far
The last time I did the scorecard was in 2007. Surprisingly, not a lot has changed. This was caused by two factors. First, not all of the companies are still pursuing private manned spaceflight. Instead Xcor and Planetspace are becoming engine and other parts suppliers to aerospace businesses. Others, like Transformational Space would like to be prime contractors and project managers rather than really hardware guys.
The second reason is that the milestones I have listed are extremely challenging. A few years ago, I don’t think most of us realized just how challenging they would be. ARCA, for example, has had multiple drop tests and balloon flights with various hardware configurations. They’ve also designed and test fired several engines and fuel combinations. They just haven’t fired a rocket after launching it on a balloon. They are progressing, but it’s painfully slow when viewed from the outside.
One other thing became clear as I read over company websites and profiles filling in the scorecards. Almost every one of these businesses submitted a proposal for NASA’s COTS program. We’ll dig a little deeper into that at a later date.
I’ve highlighted the few changes to the scorecard to make it easier to read.
Aerospace Startup Scorecard 2009
Space Startup Scorecard March 25, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in ARCA, Armadillo Aerospace, Bigelow Aerospace, Blue Origin, Canadian Arrow, PlanetSpace, Rocketplane Kistler, Space Startups, SpaceDev, SpaceX, Starchaser, Tspace, UP Aerospace, XCOR.1 comment so far
Although many of the aerospace startups have differing goals, which make them difficult to compare, I thought it might be fun to take a quick look at how they all stack up. From my perspective, Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites/The Spaceship Company is still the most advanced business since they have the only manned flights under their belts. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and John Carmack’s Armadillo Aerospace have also made impressive strides in the past few years. Bigelow Aerospace is much more difficult to compare because they are not building rockets, and simply purchasing launch services from other vendors. I assume Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin have actually conducted static fire tests, but with their secretive ways, it’s difficult to tell.
If I’ve missed anything, feel free to add it in a comment, and I’ll update the chart. Thanks.
Canadian Arrow: Profile October 4, 2006
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in Canadian Arrow, PlanetSpace, Space Startups.add a comment
As you may have guessed from the name, Canadian Arrow is a Canadian company. Geoff Sheerin founded the company in 2001 to compete for the Ansari X Prize. The 21st team to register had a unique development idea. Instead of designing a rocket from scratch, they started with the German V-2 rocket, and upgraded it with modern materials and technology. A year later their German derived engine was putting out 3,300 lb of thrust, and they built a full scale airframe that they could show off at air-shows and other events.
From the beginning, Sheerin envisioned space tourists as astronaut pilots, rather than passive passengers. So in 2003, Canadian Arrow opened a training center. He also hoped that space enthusiasts who couldn’t afford a ticket into space, would be willing to plunk down hard cash for a chance to go through the astronaut training program, similar to the many who sign up for Space Camp every year in the US. The company also unveiled a team of six astronauts to test fly the first Canadian Arrow missions. They included former Air Force and commercial pilots, engineers, and even a former backup astronaut for a Shuttle mission.
The group also explored other possible revenue streams for the fledgling aerospace business. They started to promote the idea of spacediving, or ultra-high altitude skydiving. Thrill-seekers would jump out of a suborbital rocket wearing special clothing and a ballut/parashute system.
The rocket evolved into a two-stage launcher. A single liquid alcohol/oxygen engine powers the first stage, which will parachute to a water recovery after separation. The crew capsule will be boosted to 70 miles in altitude by a cluster of four JATO solid rocket motors that also serve as an emergency abort system. As the rocket took shape, testing continued, and engine firings reached 50,000 lbs of thrust in 2004. This is enough power to push the proposed rocket across the edge of space. In the same year they tested the capsule’s parachute reentry system during helicopter drop tests.
Then when SpaceShip One snagged the X Prize, the organization was forced to shift gears. Within a few months of the X Prize flights, Geoff Sheerin teamed up with Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria to found PlanetSpace and take the ideas of Canadian Arrow to the next level. Kathuria was the founding director of MirCorp, which negotiated Denis Tito’s flight to the ISS. He brought aerospace management skills and experience to the team.
While continuing to develop Canadian Arrow for the space tourism market, PlanetSpace is looking to build larger launchers. They have a heavy lift vehicle on the drawing board designed around a cluster of the same engines that power the Canadian Arrow. They brought in Paul Czysz to design an orbital reentry vehicle. The result is the Silver Dart, a hypersonic lifting body capable of carrying 8 passengers or crew. All of this was included in their submission in NASA’s competition for the COTS development contract.
Though they failed to win the contract, they are still pursuing all of these simultaneous programs. They have yet to fly a vehicle, but they claim they will do so in the next few years. Sheerin and Kathuria’s combination of business and engineering experience my yet prove to be the right combination for this new field.
