Elite / Frontier TED Ideas worth spreading

Anders Lerche

Anders Lerche
http://www.ted.com/

This wonderful website is full of inspirational videos of the worlds best thinkers and inventors. There is so much stuff here, so many possibilities and wonders that I have to share it with you guys.

Have a look at Burt Rutan ( -I guess you all know him) and his speech about how space travel is gonna get commercial in order for it to grow. This really makes so much sense and I think that David Braben and his folks at Frontier Games will agree that what he predicts will happen is the basis of what the Frontier 4 Game will portray.
And both things can't come to soon... ;)
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/4

burt_rutan.jpg


Sincerely
Anders Lerche
http://www.farouteffects.dk
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
Indeed - welcome to the forums Anders.

I have watched many of the TED speeches and they are all very interesting in their own ways. Burt Rutan is something of a hero to me as he has pioneered so many things like composite homebuilt airplanes (of which my father has 3) and record breaking airplanes like Voyager and Spaceship One. He is utterly inspirational in my books.

This flew around the world non stop without refueling with two pilots.
VoyagerAircraftAtNASM.jpg


He also designed what I consider to be one of the most beautiful airplanes ever; the Beech Starship:

beechstarship.jpg
 

Anders Lerche

Anders Lerche
Thanks Steve.

Man, I wish my father had some of those planes to. Can I come over to your place? :p

Yeah, Burt is one of Americas greatest engineers and his designs are just The Best. I think that the future of Space travel lies with people like him. Those planes are so beautiful.

We visited Nasa in Florida last year and it was clear to my wife and I that it no longer represented the State of Art. Everything had become a bit stale and worn out, and nothing seemed to be pointing towards a bright future in outer space as it once did. It somehow felt like visiting some old World Fair of future things that might be but just never came true. It was a bit sad to see the Space Shuttle grounded because of some minor technical difficulties and knowing that it not launch until several weeks later. There was talk of a replacement for the shuttle but no could tell us when this was due or how it would look. I suppose they also knew that it was a long way still.
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
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Sir.Tj
Steve O B Have said:
He also designed what I consider to be one of the most beautiful airplanes ever; the Beech Starship:
Click to expand...

beechstarship.jpg



That is one stunning looking plane.


And welcome to the forum Anders
 
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Glyndo

G
Some really good things on that website. Not sure I agree about that plane being the most beautiful (I know it's in the eye of the beholder); for me it's

SR71.gif


The SR-71 Blackbird. That plane made me want to be a military pilot. Didn't work out though! :p
 

Glyndo

G
turwhitt said:
Gimme a spitfire any day.
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I would go along with that; not sure I could choose between that and the Blackbird! :p Unless of course I sit on the fence and say the Spitfire was the best looking propeller-powered plane and the Blackbird is the best jet-powered. ;)
 

DraQ

D
Not that I don't like all kinds of military aircraft, but the coolest craft EVER is this baby:

concorde_3.jpg

Concorde-4.jpg


It's also the only passenger jet that doesn't look like crap.
 

Adrena1in

A
For me it was always the F16 Fighting Falcon that was the best looking plane ever.

MYFV07P14_08.jpg


Don't know why. Perhaps it was because "F16 Falcon" on the Amiga was the first flight-sim I ever played. Plus the F16 was the only Airfix model kit I ever completed properly.

The Blackbird is another favourite of mine, and another I had an Airfix kit of, which I pretty much completed. Also like the F14, but "Top Gun" ruined that on for me! ;)
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
It seems that Scaled Composites have been working away in the background and are ready to roll out the next step in the Virgin Galactic Saga. White Night 2.

whiteknightx-large.jpg


Extensive flight testing

"We've designed a test program at the moment which is incredibly conservative," Whitehorn (Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic) advised — a program that he thinks might be shortened. "We're into sort of a 130 to 150 flight category program, which is extensive."

That test program starts with rollout of the huge WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane, now targeted for the end of July. The aircraft will be ground tested for days or weeks at the Mojave Air and Space Port, depending on the opinion of Scaled Composites experts, Whitehorn emphasized, but the hope is to have the plane airborne by September.

Scaled Composites founder, Burt Rutan, has led his company team in shaping the suborbital space travel hardware, and was recently named Chief Technology Officer and Chairman Emeritus of the company.

SpaceShipTwo will still be under shrouds next month, Whitehorn added, before it is publicly unveiled in the early part of next year.

"The business plan would obviously love us to start flying as soon as possible. The safety plan may well agree with that at the end of the day ... but it may not," Whitehorn suggested.
Click to expand...
 

Stefan Mars

S
Glyndo said:
So how does that thing work then? I'm assuming that the centre section is the actual orbiter and drops away from the conventional jet structure at a predetermined height and speed?
Click to expand...
Yes. Then the spaceplane ignites its engine and makes a parapolic flight into space. I think they say it is something like 5 minutes in space, so equivalent to the first manned US flight then.

The carrier aircraft can take passengers in both cabins.. for people who can't afford to go into space themselves but who hope that the spaceplane blows up... or something to that extent :)

Edit: No, can't afford it. But I am trying to convince David that Frontier staff must study space :)
 
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