Scaled Composites
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Scaled logo
Scaled Composites (often abbreviated as Scaled) was founded in 1982 in Mojave, California by famous aircraft designer Burt Rutan out of what used to be the Rutan Aircraft Factory. The company was founded to develop experimental aircraft, but now focuses on designing and developing concept craft and prototype fabrication processes for aircraft and other vehicles. It is known for interesting designs, for its use of non-metal, composite materials, and for winning the Ansari X Prize with its experimental spacecraft SpaceShipOne.
The company made a splash in April 2003 when it revealed that it was working on a privately funded spacecraft, in an attempt to win the Ansari X Prize for the first private, manned spaceflight. This experimental rocket powered spacecraft was given the name SpaceShipOne. On 17 December 2003, they announced SpaceShipOne's first supersonic flight, the first flight of its kind by a privately funded aircraft. SpaceShipOne successfully made this flight, reaching 68000 feet and 930mph (Mach 1.2). The craft was brought aloft by the White Knight carrier aircraft. On the same day, Paul Allen, one of the founders of Microsoft, confirmed publicly the rumors that he was the angel investor behind the SpaceShipOne venture.
On April 1, 2004, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued the company what it called the world's first license for a sub-orbital manned rocket flight. The license was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which has backed licenses for more than 150 commercial launches of unmanned launch vehicles in its 20 years, but never a license for manned flight on a sub-orbital trajectory. The Mojave Airport, operating part-time as Mojave Spaceport, is the launch point for SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne performed the first privately-funded human spaceflight on June 21 2004. Flight 16P on 29 September 2004 and Flight 17P on 4 October 2004 won the X-Prize for Scaled Composites and SpaceShipOne.
Before SpaceShipOne, Rutan was best known for his Voyager aircraft, which his brother, Dick Rutan, and Jeana Yeager flew around the world without refueling, in 1986. Although the role was not widely publicized, Scaled also manufactured the 1988 Stars & Stripes catamaran for Dennis Conner's entry of that year in the America's Cup yacht race.
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Rutan Aircraft Factory aircraft
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- Model 27 Variviggen (1972)
- Model 31/33 VariEze (1975)
- Model 40/74 Defiant (1978)
- Model 54 Quickie (1978)
- Model 35 AD-1 (1979)
- Model 61 Long-EZ (1979)
- Model 68 Amsoil Racer (1981)
- Model 73 NGT: Three-fifths scale model of Fairchild T-46 trainer (1981)
- Model 77 Solitaire (1982)
Scaled Composites aircraft
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- Model 115 Starship: 85% scale prototype, went into production as the Beechcraft Model 2000 Starship (1982)
- Model 91 Lotus (1983)
- Model 120 Predator (1984)
- Model 76 Voyager: First aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth non-stop (1986)
- Model 80 Grizzly (1986)
- Model 133 ATTT (1987)
- Model 144 CM-44: UAV developed for California Microwave, now Northrop Grumman (1987)
- Model 81 Catbird (1988)
- Model 143 Triumph: Built for Beechcraft (1988)
- Model 324 Scarab: Developed for Teledyne Ryan, now Northrop Grumman (1988)
- Model 151 ARES (1990)
- Model 158 Pond Racer: Built for air racer Bob Pond (1990)
- Model 226 Raptor (1993)
- Model 202 Boomerang (1996)
- Model 247 Vantage: Developed for VisionAire (1996)
- Model 271 V-Jet II: Developed for Williams International (1997)
- X-38 (1998)
- Model 281 Proteus (1998)
- Model 309 Adam M-309: Prototype for the Adam A500 (2000)
- Tier One (2003)
- Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer: Same mission as Voyager, except a solo flight using a jet engine (2004)
- Model 346: Apparently a spacecraft ("SpaceShipTwo"?); yet to be announced officially, but referenced by Rutan verbally in 2004 in aviation. Potentially the spacecraft for Virgin Galactic. (?)
- USAF Hunter-Killer project (2007?) in cooperation with Northrop Grumman
- Model 395: Proposed unmanned version of Model 281, equipped with armament
- Model 396: Smaller version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk, equipped with armament
Non-aircraft work
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- Stars & Stripes: The catamaran that formed Dennis Conner's American entry for the America's Cup yacht race (1988)
- PARLC: For the U.S. Navy. (?)
- General Motors Ultralite (1992)
External links
- Scaled Composites website (http://scaled.com/)
- Rutan Aircraft Factory website (http://www.rutanaircraft.com/)
- Aerofiles data on various Rutan/Scaled projects (http://www.aerofiles.com/_rutan.html)
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