Timeframe
Has anybody heard anything about proposed mission dates for Lohan yet? I'm half expecting another kickstarter request to top up the funds because of the time it is taking.
Last weekend, our Vulture 2 spaceplane finally swooped down to an automated landing at Spaceport America, thanks to some hot hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) action by Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) Pixhawk autopilot wrangler Linus Penzlien. Linus has been working on ArduPilot HIL simulations using Tennessee X-Plane …
Does the X-plane model animate the canards realistically: in the video they appear to be at maximum elevation; probably at a stalling angle-of-attack, I would guess. Does Vulture 2 really fly like that?
Also, who chickened out of giving us the actual moment of virtual landing... or should I say impact...?
First off, let me qualify this by saying I think whole LOHAN thing is a great idea, remendous fun, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it fly.
But...
Out of curiosity, I looked back through the story archives - I went back more than three and a half years, and didn't reach the start of the LOHAN stuff.
OK - I appreciate this is not a trivial undertaking (insert obligatory joke about rocket science here) but there seems to have been a lot of tinkering but LOHAN is still to take to the skies. So, as simple a question as possible: is the only barrier now the FAA issue? Or, once the FAA give the go-ahead, will there still be further titting about?
Sorry - I know this sounds negative, it's just that with every month that goes by, I'm finding it harder and harder to stay enthusiatic about this venture
Well, after the assault on the White House by a drunken drone operator, I'm sure that extra scrutiny of your project is in the works. A quick look at the Comments section of any LOHAN article has many mentions of beer.
Alternately, the guy who had your application in his in-basket retired and no one has bothered to look through said in-basket and re-distribute the work.
"Andrew Tridgell will remotely monitor the spaceplane's status from his sofa in Australia, so we'll have an element of expert input - depending on the connection - available to us."
It's expected and routine for nation-states with huge aerospace/military budgets but, for a bunch of hobbyists in a quasi-garage project to do this in more or less real time from around the globe is really cool. Cue "back when I were a wee lad" and such... Really looking forward to a successful flight - $DEITY knows you lot have put in the requisite time/effort. Cheers and best of luck - including with the FAA
Last time I checked, the term "loop", when applied to aeronautics, means a circular motion in the vertical plane, usually involving inverted flight in the highest quadrant. Studying the simulation screen shots leads me inexorably towards thinking that Vulture II will be circling in a horizontally oriented shallow spiral which might be more properly termed a "spiraling descent" possibly modified by the terms "steep" or "shallow", or, if things fall prey to the bedlam of undetected design, system or weather variables and their demonstrable link to glitchery, an "auguring" descent.
Lester - you should look at launching from Canada. We don't generally actually define anything policy-wise until someone does something that raises the question. I dunno if this is because our politicians are stupid or if Canada is actually the bastion of libertarian values (you decide).
WRT drones - read the rules at http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/standards/general-recavi-uav-2265.htm?WT.mc_id=1zfhj#apply. Basically it's saying "don't f*ck anyone else up, and we don't care".
I suspect you could drive out to B*ttf*ck, Saskatchewan, set up your gear, and press the launch button. Ottawa might notice 18 months later.