WEEKLY WHINE

Interaction: X Prize recap

Myers: Hello, and welcome to Interaction on this Saturday evening. Earlier this week, the Ansari X Prize was claimed right here in Mojave, CA, USA by Scaled Composites, who constructed SpaceShipOne. Mike Melvill piloted the first of two required flights, and on MON 04 OCT 2004, Brian Binnie was the pilot for the second flight above the 100km altitude mark. Both flights were successes, with a sharp roll maneuver during the first flight the only major problem encountered. The programme's investors, Paul Allen and Burt Rutan, will receive US$10,000,000 for their troubles, and perhaps more importantly, they now have plans to license SpaceShipOne's technology to Richard Branson, whose Virgin Group is planning to open a commercial space travel business. We'll have much more to say about this as the programme goes on, but first let's have the Interaction IQ, the Initial Question. Rick from Salt Lake City, UT, USA asks in a facsimile how safe space travel is. First to a staff writer at Launch Technology magazine, Mr Brett Trula.

Trula: It's very safe. It's safer than falling off your roof.

Myers: A columnist at Technology Report magazine, Ms Ulrica Samuelson.

Samuelson: Well, I don't feel that space travel is really all that safe just yet. I think that there are some things about it that are safe, but on the whole there are a lot of things that could potentially happen on any given space flight. After all, in space, nobody can hear you argue, unless there's someone else in your spacecraft, or if you're on hot mike, or if you've run a really long audio cable from your spacecraft to another. Safety is going to be an important concern for everybody who flies in space, and for certain people who don't fly in space. And you have to ask yourself whether safety is really all that desirable in the first place.

Myers: Author of the science fiction novel The Singular Kick, Ms Sam McLauran.

McLauran: Let's not get ahead of ourselves. It will take a long time to make space travel as safe as walking. As detailed in my book, space travel will be made much safer, but it will take massive investments from all corners before that actually happens. Safety is everybody's job.

Myers: And an associate lecturer in aerospace engineering at the University of the Upper Peninsula in Trout Lake, MI, USA, and the inventor of the three way switch, Mr Vincent Rapunnzal.

Rapunnzal: I think it has to be safer.

[Person on mobile telephone is visible in the background waving at camera.]

Myers: And I'm Debbie Myers. I think space travel is safe enough for those who can afford it right now. Well, before we go on to more viewer questions, let's first ask our panel for their reactions to this week's flight of SpaceShipOne. In one word, Sam, how did you react to the flight?

McLauran: In one word?

Myers: Yes, one word.

McLauran: Okay. That word would -

Myers: So your reaction was "okay". Brett?

Trula: My reaction was: Daaaamn.

Myers: Ulrica?

Samuelson: Well, at first thrill. Then disappointment that I wasn't there. And then sort of a kind of longing feeling that it was going to be so long until I was able to make that trip that it really filled me with a kind of fear about what if I didn't survive to that point, but not always.

Myers: So your reaction was "well". Vincent?

Rapunnzal: Delighted.

Myers: Well, I think everyone was delighted about that flight.

Rapunnzal: About the flight?

Myers: Yes.

Rapunnzal: Oh. I was saying I'm delighted to be on the show.

Myers: Well, I think everyone is delighted about that too. And Vincent, perhaps you could also share with us some of the unique features of SpaceShipOne.

Rapunnzal: Well, it's all one word. And it's small.

Myers: Right.

Samuelson: Umm, Debbie, may I? I have some opinions about that, and I know you directed that question to him, but I thought maybe it would be good if I talked about it too. I mean, I don't usually like to get in the way of programmes like this. Usually I just kind of stay quietly in the background and only participate to a minimal extent.

Myers: Yes, get on with it.

Samuelson: Yes, of course. You see, when I was growing up on the island of Pitcairn, I always thought that weekdays were too numerous and that hours were too short. And these are problems that you don't have in space. Because in space, nobody has to worry about when sunrise and sunset are. Unless you're in an orbit with frequent eclipse periods and you have to use up all your batteries on every orbit and then recharge them again. And you don't really have to worry about how long the weeks are, because you can always declare the week to be 57 days long if you want. But then you have to come up with new names for all the extra days, like Catilsday and Anagramday and Uranday, except that you don't want people mispronouncing Uranday because that would be bad. And if you had a pronunciation that everybody could agree on and you knew there wasn't any possibility for those stupid jokes, then yes you could go forward with that and allow that to work. I'm not sure how successful it would be, though. But you never know, so you'll have to run some tests.

Trula: I can't remember what the question was.

Myers: In that case, let's move on to questions from you, our viewers. Take a look now at all of the different ways you can submit your questions to us: regular mail, E-mail, telephone, telegraph, facsimile, yelling, and whisper chambers. Our first question is by whisper chamber, and we now go live to London, UK and the whisper chamber at the Science Museum in London. Mark Lonay, our correspondent in London, is there. Mark, hello.

Lonay: [golf voice] Good evening Debbie. As you can see, we're here in the whisper chamber. Jen from Southwark is here at the other end of the whisper chamber. [whisper] Jen, can you hear me?

Jen from Southwark: [echoing whisper] Yes. Hi.

Lonay: [whisper] Jen, what's your question for Interaction?

Jen from Southwark: [echoing whisper] My question is, what key technologies were developed by Scaled Composites to make a low cost reusable spacecraft possible?

Myers: Okay. Vincent?

Rapunnzal: The feathered wing. That lets the spacecraft reenter in just about any orientation.

Myers: And how does that work?

Rapunnzal: It's like a shuttlecock.

Trula: That's exactly right, Debbie. When the wing is feathered, it allows the spacecraft to reenter the atmosphere without regard to orientation. This feathering increases drag greatly and means that a heat shield is not needed. Then during the descent, the wing can be unfeathered to turn the craft back into a glider.

[Person on mobile telephone is still visible in background waving at camera.]

Myers: Well, let's move on to our next question. It's an E-mail from Crissy in St Petersburg, FL, USA. She asks what impact this will have on her stock in major aerospace corporations. Sam?

McLauran: Well, as detailed in my book, as human space travel becomes more popular, the definition of "major aerospace corporation" will shift until it's entirely different. You may in fact find that the corporations in which you have stock today are not in fact major aerospace corporations at some point in the future.

Myers: All right then. We have time for one more question. Let's go now to Howard in Mojave, CA, USA. Howard, are you there?

[Person on mobile telephone visible in background begins to jump up and down.]

Howard in Mojave: Hi! Hi everyone! Hi Carol and Lisa and LaShondra and DeWagner and LaLala and Justine and Ricky and Nicki and Wreck and RamRam and Clint and Cobb and Blob and Zam and Pap and Clap and Toilet and Hammer and Slide Rule and Hard Hat and Playa and - [sound cuts off abruptly]

Myers: Well, apparently we had time for zero more questions. That will be it for Interaction this week. Thanks to Mr Vincent Rapunnzal, Ms Sam McLauran, Ms Ulrica Samuelson, and Mr Brett Trula for being here today, along with our correspondent in London, Mark Lonay. Join us next week when we return to Warwickshire to talk about the election in Afghanistan. We'll be joined by election coordinators in two major Afghan cities, a representative of an Afghan expatriates' association, and the inventor of the ink used for the election. Until then, good night.

[Person on mobile telephone visible in background begins to flip off camera.]

Samuelson: And you know what? I -

Rapunnzal: I will not let you talk again.