Da Vinci Project Leader Explains Differences Between Tests And
True Launch
(This exchange appears on the Ansari X-Prize message
board...)
Dear Da Vinci Project
staff,
I’ve been a fan of your X-Prize project team for years,
and I am sorry to hear about your recent problems securing a
filament winder.
I thought I should mention, that there has been something of a
hostile reaction to DVP lately, even on the X-Prize’s own
message board, from many who feel, perhaps justifiably, that you
have been misleading to the public, by using, among other things,
imagery of a diving suit prototype model suggestively as a space
suit, images of a rocket firing that was not developed by your
team, a scale test of a balloon that is not even made of the same
material as the one to be used at launch.
I realize that a degree
of secrecy is necessary in such a project, but it does begin to
seem as if there isn’t a lot of evidence to support that
Wildfire Mk VI is anything more than a ploy on behalf of Golden
Palace. I hope that isn’t true. I for one, would like to be
able to purchase a ticket on your craft in a few years. It’s
something worth saving for, I think. At the same time, its
improbable to believe that if this were a planned manned launch,
that none of the major components have been tested to date. Was the
Kindersly launch ever actually a serious concern?
My request may sound audacious, but I wonder if you would be
able to take a minute out of your busy schedule and address current
developments on the X-Prize message board. I know that John Carmack
from Armadillo did this and it enlightened every reader.
Barring that, would it be possible to see some actual images or
at least reports on DaVinci testing to date? With Scaled’s
successful launch today, it doesn’t appear that there would
be anything to loose by doing so. I am posting this as an open
letter.
Feeney's Reply
Hello Everyone,
I would like to take a few minutes to describe the current state
of our program and launch initiative.
In general we are close to making a final commitment to a new
launch date. The team had a lot of courage to go forward with a
competitive bid with our funding from Golden Palace.com having only
been put into place the first week of August (the beginning of our
60 day notice). Specifically we have been tripped up by only a few
long lead time parts that we were not able to get on time.
I’ll make no apology for stepping out there. We knew we
had an uphill battle and almost everything went as we needed it to.
Many companies have stepped up to help in the final effort. We are
a tenacious team (all volunteer) and not afraid to step out there.
We new we had to complete a monumental effort in a short period of
time. That was and is being made. We came very close. I was the
last one to be convinced that a temporary hold had to be initiated.
As long as a race is on I’ll give no ground and fight,
inspire the team to over achieve, exceed there own limitations.
Some specifics:
The recent test launch of the scaled balloon. Someone said it
was not the flight material we are going to use. Yes and no. The
test balloon was polyethylene at 0.75 mils thickness. The flight
balloon is 4.5 mils thick.
We deliberately went with the same material but much thinner to
test the stresses. The surface area of the test balloon and the
payload were matched to the larger balloon. The test was a complete
success and gave us increased confidence knowing that the larger
balloon was a thicker material. Ground testing of the material has
stressed it to double the load of the rocket 9000 lbs (test was
18,000 lbs of stress on 0.75 mil and it held together!
Some people have suggested our throwing our hat in was a Golden
Palace media ploy. Not in the least. This is a serious effort with
a lot of dedicated people working long days, 7 days a week.
We’ve come a long way in a short period of time. The folks at
Golden Palace.com we’re in the shop last week and are
committed to the project through the 2 flights even if the X Prize
is won. If Burt is successful in his second flight and wins the
X-Prize prior to us completing our flights, we will still fly and
do so a soon as safely can be done. Our time frame is still inside
October. A new date will not be posted until we have arrived in
Kindersley. Internally we have a target.
The da Vinci Project has been a composite effort of hundreds of
people over the past 8 years - more than 150,000 man hours of
engineering. Capital held us back on turning most of that into
final hardware. We initially we’re going to go with the
Microcosm liquid engines, but in the end found them too expensive.
I’ve never let money or anything else be an excuse not to get
the project done. Much of what is on the site now reflects the
heritage of the project.
Microcosm agreed to let the engines remain on the site as a
background to where we were. Technical info on the site describes
(in general) the hybrid engine system we are using). One of the
people that has been involved on a add hoc consulting basis for the
hybrid engine has been Korey Kline of eAc - competitive supplier
(but lost) of Burt’s engine. The entire engine system though
has been developed internally from the building of nozzle tools,
through ground thrust structure testing etc. Anthony Cesaroni
provided early advice as well, though that was over a year ago.
Similarly the balloon team is a composite effort with expertise
and advice from Raven, Per Lindstrand and Cameron balloons. At the
end of the day, we chose also to build this on our own due to the
limitations on available funding. Expert consultants are applied
where necessary. The entire tether system including back up
releases etc is engineered and built by Barrie Cordage of Montreal,
one of the best in the industry.
Our RCS system is a combination of internal capability and one
of our competitor teams that stepped in to help us out.
Avionics
We had a flight simulator and altitude predictor operating over
a year ago. An off the shelf integrated INS / GPS was not in the
budget, so we purchased an off the shelf IMU, received 5 GPS units
free (COCOM limits removed) and engineered our own integrated
system. Some last minute work is still in process to debug. Again,
we’ve done this all internally -volunteers.
The space suit - hard diving suit was an early idea and
donation. It was not suitable in the end, but remained as it
reflected the commitment of what people were prepared to do for the
project. The flight suit is a soft variety developed internally
from an existing suit (heavily modified by someone who worked in
the field with DCIEM for 30 years.
On August we had a roll out and gave a glimpse of the rocket
which was still under construction. At the moment all the thermal
protection is on, painted, seats in etc with multiple systems still
being installed. The all important parachute system is a combined
effort of the folks at BRS and one of the most impressive people
I’ve ever met in the field of high speed drogue deployment
chutes and rigging.
I could go on an on but
have to run. What I will say though is we are committed to fly. We
have a very competitive effort that is out of sync with Burt by a
relatively short period of time. We never had the financial
resources he had, but have matched him on technical prowess.
We’ve stayed the course through incredible barriers - as have
many of the teams and will hold that course until we fly - which
should be this month. Until we prove ourselves, it is all concept
to everyone on the outside.
The one thing which may add an element of credibility if you
wish though is the process we went through to get the government
approval and insurance. The approval process was finished on April
7 but could not be issued until the insurance was bought and in
place. That has occurred. The insurance for the 2 flights is fully
secured. Both the X Prize and government of Canada have received
the proper docs and we should be in receipt of the flight approval
shortly. That process both government and Insurance is extremely
thorough. No amount of promotion will get you through it. It was a
first for us and a team that did not have the heritage Burt had,
yet we succeeded. Our April 7th successful completion of the
evaluation just 6 days after Burt’s FAA approval says
something. Money for the policy though was not available until
Golden Palace came on board. The remaining time was insurance
processing.
Thanks for your questions/observations.
Cheers,
Brian