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95-544: Three prototype canard -style Rocket Racer aircraft were built between 2006 and 2010. The league had planned to hold its inaugural race season in 2008 with four races, but encountered financial difficulties that delayed fielding of Rocket Racers by the six teams that had been previously announced. With the addition of venture capital funding in mid-2009, technology development continued and one exhibition occurred in 2010, with another round of plans for an inaugural season of races in 2011. The 2011 races were never scheduled and

190-497: A canard is a wing configuration in which a small forewing or foreplane is placed forward of the main wing of a fixed-wing aircraft or a weapon. The term "canard" may be used to describe the aircraft itself, the wing configuration , or the foreplane. Canard wings are also extensively used in guided missiles and smart bombs . The term "canard" arose from the appearance of the Santos-Dumont 14-bis of 1906, which

285-485: A horizontal stabilizer , whether stability is achieved statically or artificially (fly-by-wire). Being placed ahead of the centre of gravity, a canard foreplane acts directly to reduce longitudinal static stability (stability in pitch). The first aeroplane to achieve controlled, powered flight, the Wright Flyer , was conceived as a control-canard but in effect was also an unstable lifting canard. At that time

380-520: A "2010 World Exhibition Tour" on April 24, 2010, when they unveiled their Mark-III X-racer rocket plane at the QuikTrip Air & Rocket Racing Show in Tulsa, Oklahoma . The RRL exhibition flights at Tulsa were the first simultaneous flights of two rocket-powered airplanes in the history of peacetime aviation. RRL duplicated this historic feat later that day. The league's intent in such exhibitions

475-451: A badly-placed foreplane can cause severe problems. By bringing the foreplane close to the wing and just above it in a close-coupled arrangement, the interactions can be made beneficial, actually helping to solve other problems too. For example, at high angles of attack (and therefore typically at low speeds) the canard surface directs airflow downward over the wing, reducing turbulence which results in reduced drag and increased lift. Typically

570-518: A canard foreplane and rear-mounted pusher propeller. The C 1 was a failure. First flown in 1927, the experimental Focke-Wulf F 19 "Ente" (duck) was more successful. Two examples were built and one of them continued flying until 1931. Immediately before and during World War II, several experimental canard fighters were flown, including the Ambrosini SS.4 , Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender and Kyūshū J7W1 Shinden . These were attempts at using

665-407: A conventional aft-tail which sometimes generates negative lift that must be counteracted by extra lift on the main wing. As the canard lift adds to the overall lift capability of the aircraft, this may appear to favour the canard layout. In particular, at takeoff the wing is most heavily loaded and where a conventional tail exerts a downforce worsening the load, a canard exerts an upward force relieving

760-493: A foreplane would tend to destabilise an aeroplane but expected it to be a better control surface, in addition to being visible to the pilot in flight. They believed it impossible to provide both control and stability in a single design, and opted for control. Many pioneers initially followed the Wrights' lead. For example, the Santos-Dumont 14-bis aeroplane of 1906 had no "tail", but a box kite -like set of control surfaces in

855-574: A location for the spaceport. In 2003, the task force petitioned then-new Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Rick Homans who then picked up the torch. Homans presented the idea to then- Governor Bill Richardson and negotiated with the X Prize Foundation to locate the X Prize Cup in New Mexico. Following an announcement by Governor Richardson and Sir Richard Branson that the new Virgin Galactic would make New Mexico its world headquarters,

950-448: A negative trimming force which makes the wing work harder, a canard pushes up so the wing works less hard. This actually reduces the net drag, resulting in negative trim drag. The use of landing flaps on the main wing causes a large trim change, which must be compensated for. The Saab Viggen has flaps on its canard surface which may be deployed simultaneously with the main flaps. The Beech Starship uses variable-sweep foreplanes to trim

1045-545: A new generation of military canard designs. The Dassault Rafale multirole fighter first flew in 1986, followed by the Saab Gripen (first to enter service) in 1988, and the Eurofighter Typhoon in 1994. These three types and related design studies are sometimes referred to as the euro-canards or eurocanards . The Chinese Chengdu J-10 appeared in 1998. Like any wing surface, a canard contributes to

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1140-614: A number of types derived from the popular Dassault Mirage delta-winged jet fighter. These included variants of the French Dassault Mirage III , Israeli IAI Kfir and South African Atlas Cheetah . The close-coupled canard delta remains a popular configuration for combat aircraft. The Viggen also inspired the American Burt Rutan to create a two-seater homebuilt canard delta design, accordingly named VariViggen and flown in 1972. Rutan then abandoned

1235-566: A potential landing site for reentry capsules and then evolved into a test and operations site for the cancelled Lockheed Martin VentureStar project. The first rocket launch at Spaceport America occurred on September 25, 2006. The spaceport's initial concept was proposed by Stanford University engineering lecturer and tech startup advisor Dr. Burton Lee in 1990. He wrote the initial business and strategic plans , secured US$ 1.4 million in seed funding via congressional earmarks with

1330-410: A propeller located ahead of the canard (increasing the lift slope of the canard) has a strong destabilising effect. A canard foreplane may be used to trim an aeroplane in pitch, just as a tail plane can. The trimming force in pitch is also a lifting force, and the greater it is, the greater the associated induced drag , known as trim drag . However, where a conventional tail typically pushed down with

1425-558: A spaceport tax that would go into effect upon final approval from Sierra County. The first images of the then planned spaceport's Hangar Terminal Facility (HTF) were released in early September 2007. In April 2008, voters in Sierra County approved the plan, releasing over US$ 40 million in funding for the spaceport. Voters in of Otero County , however, rejected the spaceport tax during general elections in November. In spite of

1520-597: A standard fixed-gear XL airframe, modified for the addition of the Armadillo rocket propulsion. The Mark-III (N133XP) airframe was modified during manufacturing at Velocity Aircraft explicitly for use as a Rocket Racer, with canopy top, center seat and control stick, and other enhancements. The Mark-V proposed design resembles "a sleek, rocket-powered sailplane" and may be built at Velocity Aircraft , although no firm contracts are in place to do so as of November 2011. Canard (aeronautics) In aeronautics ,

1615-423: A supersonic delta wing design which gains lift in both transonic flight (such as for supercruise ) and also in low speed flight (such as take offs and landings). In the close-coupled delta wing canard, the foreplane is located just above and forward of the wing. The vortices generated by a delta-shaped foreplane flow back past the main wing and interact with its own vortices. Because these are critical for lift,

1710-401: A top speed of 300 mph (480 km/h). The rocket engine was a LOX-Ethanol, film-cooled , pressure-fed , blow-down design with a 10 to 15-foot (4.6 m)-long exhaust plume . Plume-seeding technology allowed the plume color to vary from red to green to yellow to better facilitate race spectators in keeping track of specific racers while in the air. The Mark-II (N205MB) racer utilized

1805-453: Is a high aspect ratio canard with higher lift coefficient (the wing loading of the canard is between 1.6 and 2 times the wing one) and a canard airfoil whose lift coefficient slope is non-linear (nearly flat) between 14° and 24°. Another stabilisation parameter is the power effect. In case of canard pusher propeller : "the power-induced flow clean up of the wing trailing edge" increases the wing lift coefficient slope (see above). Conversely,

1900-513: Is an American spaceflight company developing a suborbital spaceflight tourism program. Their spaceflight program have made New Mexico the third state to host human space flight after California and Florida . Virgin Galactic has recently reported a future of two carrier ships and three spaceships with 400 launches a year. conducts launches of student designed and fabricated suborbital rock. On March 30, 2021, Virgin Galactic unveiled its new suborbital spaceplane "Spaceship III". A flight test program

1995-648: Is built to accommodate both vertical and horizontal launch aerospace vehicles, as well as an array of non-aerospace events and commercial activities. Spaceport America is owned and operated by the State of New Mexico, via a state agency, the New Mexico Spaceport Authority . The first rocket launch at Spaceport America occurred on September 25, 2006. The current tenants working in the U.S. spaceport are HAPSMobile Aerovironment , UP Aerospace , SpinLaunch , and Virgin Galactic. Spaceport America

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2090-464: Is currently testing a prototype high altitude, long endurance UAV and associated cellular-like communication equipment. December 15, 2020, SpinLaunch announced that it would be expanding its operations to Spaceport America. SpinLaunch is creating an evacuated centrifuge roughly 30 meters in diameter and was expected to perform its first suborbital test on a prototype of its centrifugal kinetic accelerator system that will launch small satellites at

2185-582: Is sanctioned by the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA). An international field of college and commercial teams operate sounding and sport-class rockets of several varieties and specifications, including solid, liquid, and hybrid fuel rockets, with altitude ranges between 3 and 10 km, and utilize the airspace of the immediate area as well as downrange toward the White Sands facilitates. HAPSMobile

2280-472: Is to have [construction] completed in 17 months, by December 2010." The ground-breaking ceremony took place on June 19, 2009, and paid tours of the facilities began in December of the same year. By February 2010, the in mid-construction budgetary estimate for completion was $ 198 million. On October 22, a ceremonial flypass of Spaceport America was made by SpaceShipTwo to celebrate the completion of

2375-528: Is used primarily for pitch control during maneuvering. A pure control-canard operates only as a control surface and is nominally at zero angle of attack and carrying no load in normal flight. Modern combat aircraft of canard configuration typically have a control-canard driven by a computerized flight control system . Canards with little or no loading (i.e. control-canards) may be used to intentionally destabilize some combat aircraft in order to make them more manoeuvrable. The electronic flight control system uses

2470-408: Is varied in flight by swinging the foreplanes forward to increase their effectiveness and so trim out the nose-down pitching effect caused by the wing flaps when deployed. A moustache is a small, high aspect ratio foreplane which is deployed for low-speed flight in order to improve handling at high angles of attack such as during takeoff and landing. It is retracted at high speed in order to avoid

2565-584: The Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle . The facilities at Spaceport America were never used for Falcon 9 RDV and equipment staged was eventually moved back to Texas. There have been a series of delays in Virgin Galactic beginning flight operations at Spaceport America. The multi-year extension of the test program and the re-designed engine of SpaceShipTwo announced in May 2014 were responsible for much of

2660-697: The Jornada del Muerto desert basin 45 miles (72 km) north of Las Cruces , New Mexico , and 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Truth or Consequences . With Virgin Galactic 's launch of the VSS Unity , with three people aboard, on May 22, 2021, New Mexico became the third US state to launch humans into space after California and Florida . Spaceport America is "the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport", designed and constructed specifically for commercial users, that had not previously been an airport or federal infrastructure of any kind. The site

2755-609: The McDonnell Douglas X-36 research prototype. The Chengdu J-20 Fifth-generation fighter uses canards in the belief that they offer the optimal balance of stealth vs. aerodynamics. Some question whether this compromises its stealth characteristics. Spaceport America Spaceport America , formerly the Southwest Regional Spaceport , is an FAA -licensed spaceport located on 18,000 acres (7,300 ha) of State Trust Land in

2850-778: The North American XB-70 Valkyrie and the Soviet equivalent Sukhoi T-4 flying in prototype form. But the stability and control problems encountered prevented widespread adoption. In 1963 the Swedish company Saab patented a delta-winged design which overcame the earlier problems, in what has become known as the close-coupled canard. It was built as the Saab 37 Viggen and in 1967 became the first modern canard aircraft to enter production. The success of this aircraft spurred many designers, and canard surfaces sprouted on

2945-561: The OMAC Laser 300 , Avtek 400 and Beech Starship . Static canard designs can have complex interactions in airflow between the canard and the main wing, leading to issues with stability and behaviour in the stall. This limits their applicability. The development of fly-by-wire and artificial stability towards the end of the century opened the way for computerized controls to begin turning these complex effects from stability concerns into maneuverability advantages. This approach produced

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3040-531: The XCOR EZ-Rocket , later flown under Rocket Racing League sponsorship as an X-Racer prototype rocketplane. First flight was July 21, 2001 at Mojave Airport in Mojave, California . This XCOR technology demonstrator was a converted Rutan Long-EZ and, in its final version, utilized two 400 lbf (1.8 kN) thrust XCOR Aerospace isopropyl-alcohol -powered rocket engines of engine type XR-4A3. XCOR flew

3135-1222: The wave drag penalty of a canard design. It was first seen on the Dassault Milan and later on the Tupolev Tu-144 . NASA has also investigated a one-piece slewed equivalent called the conformably stowable canard, where as the surface is stowed one side sweeps backwards and the other forwards. The Rockwell B-1 Lancer has small canard vanes or fins on either side of the forward fuselage that form part of an active damping system that reduces aerodynamic buffeting during high-speed, low altitude flight. Such buffeting would otherwise cause crew fatigue and reduce airframe life during prolonged flights. Canard aircraft can potentially have poor stealth characteristics because they present large angular surfaces that tend to reflect radar signals forwards. The Eurofighter Typhoon uses software control of its canards in order to reduce its effective radar cross section . Canards have nevertheless been incorporated in some later stealth aircraft studies such as an early mock-up of Lockheed Martin's Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) contender and

3230-510: The EZ-Rocket for several years in development and demonstration flights, including, in collaboration with the RRL, at the 2005 X-Prize Cup in New Mexico. By 2006, the design-point for the RRL racer had become a single rocket engine utilizing kerosene as the rocket fuel, carrying 1,000 lb (450 kg) of liquid oxygen in its flight oxidizer tank. The first RRL prototype built, known as

3325-493: The EZ-Rocket. As of 2010, the Rocket Racing League was utilizing a highly modified Velocity XL fixed-gear airframe and an Armadillo Aerospace 2,500 pound thrust liquid oxygen (LOX) and ethanol rocket engine in both its Mark-II X-Racer and Mark-III X-Racer demonstration vehicles. The Mark-II and Mark-III racers could take off just 4 seconds after the rocket engine was ignited; both vehicles were limited to

3420-472: The Mark-I X-Racer, was built on a Velocity SE airframe and was also powered by XCOR Aerospace rocket technology, a regeneratively-cooled and pump-fed XR-4K14 rocket engine. This rocket-powered aircraft flew several demonstration flights at the 2008 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh air show . The total thrust for the single-engine Mark-I X-Racer was 1,500 lbf (6,700 N), approximately twice that of

3515-408: The New Mexico legislature in November 2014 for US$ 1.7 million in emergency funds to maintain operations until 2016, the earliest date at which Virgin was expected to be able to begin commercial flight operations. SpaceX had also been delayed in initiating test flights of F9R Dev2 at the spaceport from when they were originally anticipated. In May 2015, budgetary details made public revealed that

3610-591: The Racing Rocket Racing Composite Corporation, a subsidiary of the Rocket Racing League, acquired Velocity Aircraft. The RRL announced their goal was to "produce an airframe that will be consistent for all competing Rocket Racers." On May 26, 2010, a Velocity employee posted to the builder's email-list a note from Scott and Duane Swing that stated that they had bought back full ownership of Velocity Inc from Rocket Racing League. The RRL now owns no share of Velocity Inc. None of

3705-577: The Rocket Racer for a public audience at the 2008 EAA AirVenture Airshow at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. If league competition were to begin, Whitelaw indicated tournament semifinals would be held each September in Nevada, with finals each October in New Mexico at the X Prize Cup competing for a $ 2 million championship purse. Races were to have taken place on a race course two miles (3 km) long, one mile (1.6 km) wide, and 1,500 feet (460 m) in

3800-541: The Spaceport America desert test tracks, such as its Q50 sports sedan and Q60 sports coupe. On June 25, 2020, Virgin Galactic carried out its second successful glide flight of its spaceship over Spaceport America. The first glide flight took place in May 2020. The site area nets approximately 670,000 sq ft (62,000 m ), with the terminal & hangar facility grossing an area of 110,152 sq ft (10,233.5 m ). The western zone of

3895-519: The Spaceport Authority is "working on a business plan that would further expand the search for revenue sources beyond Virgin Galactic ...[targeting] new tenants, including other space ventures, commercial projects, tourism, special events and merchandising." An annual rocketry competition and engineering event, Spaceport America Cup , takes place at the site, is an Intercollegiate Rocketry Engineering Competition (IREC)-official event, and

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3990-520: The Spaceport. However, due to delays in spaceport operations and reduction in spaceport authority revenues, the plans were considerably scaled back in January 2014. Rather than the planned US$ 20 million facilities, the revised plan in January 2014 had only a US$ 7.5 million capital budget. Rather than the "planned $ 13 million visitor center at the spaceport [there will be a] $ 1.5 million hangar" and

4085-506: The Truth or Consequences visitor center budget request was cut to US$ 6 million from the original US$ 7 million . By May 2015, news media were reporting that the spaceport authority "spent so much money with a company to design the visitors’ experience that it had no money left over to actually build the facilities for it." The spaceport is located under FAA Special Use Airspace Restricted Areas 5111A and 5111B. When both these areas are active

4180-527: The Wright brothers believed that instability was a requirement to make an aeroplane controllable. They did not know how to make a tailplane unstable, so they chose a canard control surface for this reason. Nevertheless, a canard stabiliser may be added to an otherwise unstable design to obtain overall static pitch stability. To achieve this stability, the change in canard lift coefficient with angle of attack (lift coefficient slope) should be less than that for

4275-513: The Wrights, experimented with both fore and aft planes on the same aircraft, now known as the three surface configuration. After 1911, few canard types would be produced for many decades. In 1914 W.E. Evans commented that "the Canard type model has practically received its death-blow so far as scientific models are concerned." Experiments continued sporadically for several decades. In 1917, de Bruyère constructed his C 1 biplane fighter, having

4370-571: The air and possibly in exhibition races." Non-exhibition "live" races were to occur as early as 2011. Also in February, the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium (TASM) announced that it would partner with the Rocket Racing League to host an exhibition flight of a Rocket Racer at the QuikTrip Air and Rocket Show at Tulsa International Airport in April 2010. The Rocket Racing League announced

4465-419: The air. A typical race would take about one hour, and fans would be able to see multiple camera views, including cockpit, "on-track," "side-by-side" and wing-angle views. Additionally, a computer game had been planned which was to have interfaced with racer positional data in real time over the internet, allowing players to virtually compete with the rocket pilots. The proposed "track" for a typical Rocket Race

4560-423: The aircraft's longitudinal equilibrium, static and dynamic stability characteristics. The Wright Brothers began experimenting with the foreplane configuration around 1900. Their first kite included a front surface for pitch control and they adopted this configuration for their first Flyer . They were suspicious of the aft tail because Otto Lilienthal had been killed in a glider with one. The Wrights realised that

4655-455: The airspace is restricted from surface to 'unlimited'. Facility awards Since its completion in 2014 by Foster+Partners and URS Corporation team, the facility has a LEED-Gold Terminal Hangar facility and has won several awards for its architectural design. GENESIS Created by renowned artist Otto Rigan from Muroc, California, The Genesis is a $ 200,000, 11,000-pound, 40-foot-long by 5-foot-deep steel sculpture that greets visitors at

4750-565: The anchor tenant, agreeing to pay US$ 1 million per year for the first five years in addition to payments on a tiered scale based on the number of launches the company makes. In December, Gerald Martin Construction Management, from Albuquerque , was chosen to oversee construction. As of April 2009 , the first of 13 bid packages for the spaceport was expected to be publicly released later that month, and all 13 bid packages were scheduled to be released by June 2009. "The goal

4845-438: The apron, runway and landscape beyond. The spaceport was built with environmental sustainability in mind. Designed to meet the requirements for LEED Gold Certification , it incorporates "Earth Tubes" to cool the building, solar thermal panels, underfloor radiant cooling and heating, and natural ventilation. A visitor center was planned in downtown Truth or Consequences (the closest town) to provide shuttle bus services to

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4940-522: The canard configuration to give advantages in areas such as performance, armament disposition or pilot view. Ultimately, no production aircraft were completed. The Shinden was ordered into production "off the drawing board" but only prototypes had flown by the time the war ended. In 1945 in Europe, what may have been the first canard designed and flown in the Soviet Union appeared as a test aircraft,

5035-499: The competition also out in 2007. In 2006, analysts identified doubts about the economics of the venture, and especially of the ability of RRL to attract a large fanbase similar to IndyCar and NASCAR . In the event, no races occurred in either 2006 or 2007. In April 2008, the league stated that it was "ready for competition [announcing] four exhibition races will be held later [in the] year, one in Las Cruces." On April 14, 2008,

5130-516: The construction bonds and eventually meet operating expenses from Spaceport operations, the spaceport authority has forecast a number of revenue streams. These include lease payments, takeoff and launch payments, and tours. However, anchor tenant Virgin Galactic had paid only US$ 2.7 million in facility lease payments as of November 2014, and was projected to pay US$ 50,000 to 100,000 for each six-passenger flight of SpaceShipTwo once flight operations begin. Due to continued long-term revenue shortfalls,

5225-413: The conventional tailplane configuration found on most aircraft, an aircraft designer may adopt the canard configuration to reduce the main wing loading, to better control the main wing airflow, or to increase the aircraft's maneuverability, especially at high angles of attack or during a stall . Canard foreplanes, whether used in a canard or three-surface configuration, have important consequences for

5320-407: The delay. In 2014, the spaceport announced that it was seeking additional tenants and hoped to sign another one in the next year. Budgetary difficulties in operating the spaceport became salient in New Mexico politics. The annual cost of providing fire protection services that were contracted for the mostly unused spaceport was approximately US$ 2.9 million . The inflight breakup and crash of

5415-453: The delta wing as unsuited to such light aircraft. His next two canard designs, the VariEze and Long-EZ had longer-span swept wings. These designs were not only successful and built in large numbers but were radically different from anything seen before. Rutan's ideas soon spread to other designers. From the 1980s they found favour in the executive market with the appearance of types such as

5510-469: The downward pitching moment caused by the deflection of its trailing-edge flaps . Pitch control in a canard type may be achieved either by the canard surface, as on the control-canard or in the same way as a tailless aircraft , by control surfaces at the rear of the main wing, as on the Saab Viggen. In a control-canard design, most of the weight of the aircraft is carried by the wing and the canard

5605-407: The entrance of Spaceport America. The sculpture was installed in 2015. According to the artist, the sculpture represents “new beginnings.” The U-shaped arms of the sculpture face upward towards the sky and are detailed with embedded cast glass designed to “represent the stars in the night sky.” The mirrored glass was made to reflect the night sky and respond to the changing light of its environment,

5700-496: The experimental Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-8 Utka (Russian for "duck"), a lightweight propeller aircraft. It was noted for its docile slow-speed handling characteristics and flew for some years, being used as a testbed during development of the swept wing of the (conventional layout) MiG-15 jet fighter. With the arrival of the jet age and supersonic flight, American designers, notably North American Aviation , began to experiment with supersonic canard delta designs, with some such as

5795-558: The facility (25,597 square feet (2,378.0 m )) houses support and administrative facilities for Virgin Galactic and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority . The central zone contains the double-height hangar (47,000 square feet (4,400 m )) to store White Knight Two and SpaceShipTwo craft. The eastern zone (29,419 square feet (2,733.1 m )) encompasses the principal operational training area, departure lounge, spacesuit dressing rooms, and celebration areas. The onsite restaurant and mission control room have direct east views across

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5890-465: The first SpaceShipTwo vehicle— VSS Enterprise —in October 2014 raised questions about the future of the spaceport. With further delays to the start of Virgin Galactic commercial operations, ostensibly to at least 2016, the spaceport potentially needed funding from state or local authorities in order to keep the basic fire and security and administrative operation underway. The Spaceport Authority asked

5985-406: The first commercial text message to space, using a UP Aerospace rocket launched from Spaceport America funded by NASA's Flight Opportunities Program. The technology has been incorporated into Solstar Space products. Since 2017, UPA has manufactured their solid rocket motors at Spaceport America. UPA also has conducted launches of third-party rockets for Lockheed Martin and Moog. Virgin Galactic

6080-525: The foreplane creates a vortex which attaches to the upper surface of the wing, stabilising and re-energising the airflow over the wing and delaying or preventing the stall. The canard foreplane may be fixed as on the IAI Kfir , have landing flaps as on the Saab Viggen , or be moveable and also act as a control-canard during normal flight as on the Saab Gripen . A free-floating canard pivots so that

6175-560: The four planned 2008 races were actually run. The Rocket Racing League had difficulty in attracting and retaining sufficient financial backing, from both investors and sponsors, in order to get an initial racing season firmly scheduled in 2008, 2009, or 2010. Some progress with the rocket and aircraft technology continued however, but by 2014, the league had gone defunct. The league twice failed to complete construction of six hangars contracted to be built on land adjacent to Spaceport America near Las Cruces , New Mexico . As of January 2009,

6270-414: The front, pivoting on a universal joint on the fuselage's extreme nose. This was intended to provide both yaw and pitch control. The Fabre Hydravion of 1910 was the first floatplane to fly and had a foreplane. But canard behaviour was not properly understood and other European pioneers—among them, Louis Blériot —were establishing the tailplane as the safer and more "conventional" design. Some, including

6365-658: The help of Senator Pete Domenici , and worked with the New Mexico State University Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) to develop local support for the spaceport concept. In 1992, the Southwest Space Task Force was formed to advance New Mexico's space industry's commercial infrastructure and activity. After several years of study, they focused on a 27-square-mile (70 km ) plot of state-owned land, 45 miles (72 km) north of Las Cruces, as

6460-537: The inaugural 2008 race season, Rocket Star Racing, Team Extreme Rocket Racing, Canada-based Beyond Gravity Rocket Racing, Bridenstine Rocket Racing, Santa Fe Racing and Thunderhawk Rocket Racing. As of 2012, RRL claimed that "official team recruitment will commence as the production-level Rocket Racers near completion", listing five "candidate teams of the RRL franchise": Bridenstine Rocket Racing, Santa Fe Racing, Rocket Star Racing, Team Extreme Rocket Racing, and Canada -based Beyond Gravity Rocket Racing. The formation of

6555-526: The inauguration of the administration of Governor Susana Martinez in 2011, the state government took a new approach to increase private investment to complete the spaceport project. In order to oversee the new effort, Governor Martinez appointed an entirely new board of directors for the Spaceport Authority and removed Executive Director Rick Homans. By 2013, the Spaceport had signed SpaceX as an additional tenant for vertical takeoff and vertical landing flight testing of prototype reusable rockets such as

6650-579: The league was announced by Granger Whitelaw , and Peter Diamandis , founder of the Ansari X-Prize , in October 2005 in partnership with the Reno Air Races . According to Diamandis, the purpose of the league was to "inspire people of all ages to once again look up into the sky and find inspiration and excitement." Initial plans called for a four-team league finals in 2006, to be followed by 10 teams competing in 2007, with video games based on

6745-467: The league was at risk of having their leases with the City of Las Cruces terminated. In July 2009, the league announced the closing of a venture capital financing round of US$ 5.5 million. The funds were to be used for ongoing operations and for the development of a next-generation Rocket Racer. As of February 2010, Peter Diamandis suggested that 2010 could be the year that we see "more than one racer in

6840-467: The league was defunct by 2014. Projected to be an hour and one half in length, the races were intended to be between Rocket Racer planes that used liquid oxygen and either kerosene or ethanol fuel with a burn time of four minutes. The rocketplanes were expected to cost less than US$ 1 million each. The planes were based on the fixed-gear Velocity SE modified by XCOR Aerospace and the retractible gear Velocity XL modified by Armadillo Aerospace for

6935-471: The lift, (in)stability and trim of an aircraft, and may also be used for flight control. Where the canard surface contributes lift, the weight of the aircraft is shared between the wing and the canard. It has been described as an extreme conventional configuration but with a small highly loaded wing and an enormous lifting tail which enables the centre of mass to be very far aft relative to the front surface. A lifting canard generates an upload, in contrast to

7030-414: The load. This allows a smaller main wing. However, the foreplane also creates a downwash , which may affect the wing lift distribution favourably or unfavourably, so the differences in overall lift and induced drag are not obvious and they depend on the details of the design. With a lifting canard, the main wing must be located further aft of the centre of gravity than a conventional wing, increasing

7125-463: The main plane. A number of factors affect this characteristic. For example, seven years after the Wrights' first flight, the ASL Valkyrie adopted the canard position in order to make the aeroplane stable and safe. For most airfoils , lift slope decreases at high lift coefficients. Therefore, the most common way in which pitch stability can be achieved is to increase the lift coefficient (so

7220-401: The neighboring White Sands Missile Range . In early 2007, red tape was still in the process of being cleared and the spaceport itself was still little more than "a 100-foot (30 m) by 25-foot (7.6 m) concrete slab." That slab would eventually be part of the launch facility for the spaceport's first tenant UP Aerospace . On April 3, voters in neighboring Doña Ana County approved

7315-590: The pitch control function of the canard foreplane to create artificial static and dynamic stability. A benefit obtainable from a control-canard is the correction of pitch-up during a wingtip stall. An all-moving canard capable of a significant nose-down deflection can be used to counteract the pitch-up due to the tip stall. As a result, the aspect ratio and sweep of the wing can be optimized without having to guard against pitch-up. A highly loaded lifting canard does not have sufficient spare lift capacity to provide this protection. A canard foreplane may be used as

7410-404: The position of the lift force. When the main wing is most loaded, at takeoff, to rotate the nose up a conventional tailplane typically pushes down while a foreplane lifts up. In order to maintain trim the main wing on a canard design must therefore be located further aft relative to the centre of gravity than on the equivalent conventional design. A close-coupled canard has been shown to benefit

7505-475: The purpose of rocket racing. The Velocity airframe was derived from a commercially available kit plane that traced its design heritage to the Rutan Long-EZ , which had been modified to accept rocket power and custom avionics. In order to provide the airframes, RRL purchased the aircraft's manufacturer, Velocity Aircraft , in April 2008. The RRL had been called " NASCAR with rockets", XCOR Aerospace flew

7600-571: The rejection, Spaceport America had what it needed to move forward and progress toward its completion began. In December 2008, the New Mexico Spaceport Authority received its launch license for vertical and horizontal launch from the Federal Aviation Administration 's Office of Commercial Space Transportation . Shortly thereafter, Virgin Galactic signed a 20-year (240-month) lease as

7695-474: The runway. By October 2010, with the runway complete and the terminal building under active construction, the budgetary estimate for completion increased to $ 212 million. Approximately two-thirds of that were provided by the state and the remainder from "construction bonds backed by a tax approved by voters in Doña Ana and Sierra counties." The spaceport was officially declared open on October 18, 2011, but

7790-420: The site in 2021. UP Aerospace is a space launch and flight test service provider specializing in advanced engineering, launch technology development, and state-of-the-art rapid and low-cost launch operations. The company provides suborbital launch services to customers such as NASA , Department of Defense (DoD), educational institutions, and the private sector. In 2013, SatWest company led by Brian Barnett sent

7885-515: The spaceport from the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California . Virgin completed the interior fit out work in mid-2019 and the entire facility was deemed ready for operations in August 2019. WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo moved to the Spaceport in February 2020. The operational flights are expected to begin sometime in 2020. In 2019, Infiniti was testing some of its current models at

7980-485: The state legislature enacted laws providing for the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport in 2006 (compare SpacePort Canada ). The spaceport was subsequently named Spaceport America . Construction of the first temporary launch facility at the spaceport site in Sierra County began on April 4, 2006. Early operations of the spaceport utilized this temporary infrastructure, with some of it borrowed from

8075-500: The substantially unused spaceport had an annual deficit that had been running approximately US$ 500,000 , with the deficit being made up by state taxpayers. The primary planned revenue in the times of delayed operations by Virgin Galactic and SpaceX, with limited operations by other minor tenants, was local tax revenue, paid by the taxpayers of Sierra and Doña Ana counties. In May 2019, Virgin Galactic announced that they were finally ready to relocate all of their spaceflight activities to

8170-410: The tenant did not move in and begin operations right away. By August 2011, Spaceport America was substantially complete and the cost of the entire project was $ 209 million. The interior of the building was the responsibility of tenant Virgin Galactic, and work on the interior began only in 2018. By August 2019, interior work was complete, and the entire facility was deemed ready for operations. With

8265-489: The time of day, the seasons, and the light from the night sky. As of August 2012 , many suborbital flights had been successfully launched from Spaceport America. The primary user is UP Aerospace , with 14 launches of SpaceLoft XL sounding rockets from 2006 to 2021 and 5 launches of prototype vehicles from 2007 to 2009. Boeing, SpinLaunch, HyperSciences, EXOS Aerospace, TMD Defense and Space and White Sands Research and Developers are current tenants. In order to repay

8360-441: The whole surface can rotate freely to change its angle of incidence to the fuselage without pilot input. In normal flight, the air pressure distribution maintains its angle of attack to the airflow, and therefore also the lift coefficient it generates, to a constant amount. A free-floating mechanism may increase static stability and provide safe recovery from high angle of attack evolutions. The first Curtiss XP-55 Ascender

8455-427: The wing loading) of the canard. This tends to increase the lift-induced drag of the foreplane, which may be given a high aspect ratio in order to limit drag. Such a canard airfoil has a greater airfoil camber than the wing. Another possibility is to decrease the aspect ratio of the canard, with again more lift-induced drag and possibly a higher stall angle than the wing. A design approach used by Burt Rutan

8550-429: Was initially fitted with a small free-floating canard lacking sufficient authority. Even on subsequent prototypes fitted with larger surfaces, "the stall was quite an experience". Secondary movable surfaces may be added to the free-floating canard, allowing pilot input to affect the generated lift, thus providing pitch control and/or trim adjustment. The Beechcraft Starship has a variable-sweep canard surface. The sweep

8645-510: Was now defunct. The Rocket Racing League had been developing prototype Rocket Racers since 2006, working with one airframe manufacturer and two rocket engine producers on three prototype aircraft to date. All three of the airframes have been of the canard configuration to more easily accommodate the rocket propulsion technology. A fifth model was proposed, but not built, in 2011: the Mark-V X-Racer. XCOR Aerospace developed

8740-538: Was officially declared open on October 18, 2011, the visitor center in Truth or Consequences became fully accessible to the general public on June 24, 2015, and after Virgin Galactic completed the interior buildout, the entire facility was deemed ready for operations in August 2019. Visitors can book private tours of the facility via the website or from the Visit Las Cruces organization or the visitors center in Truth or Consequences. Spaceport America began as

8835-462: Was said to be reminiscent of a duck ( canard in French) with its neck stretched out in flight. Despite the use of a canard surface on the first powered aeroplane, the Wright Flyer of 1903, canard designs were not built in quantity until the appearance of the Saab Viggen jet fighter in 1967. The aerodynamics of the canard configuration are complex and require careful analysis. Rather than use

8930-451: Was to "build up the league's fan base, in addition to perfecting operations and technologies, before the league's official launch in 2012." The April event in Tulsa was the only RRL exhibition of 2010. The league's financial difficulties continued in 2011 and no races were organized. By 2014, persons formerly involved with the league had made public statements that the league had failed and

9025-477: Was to have begun with a staggered start. Pilots were to take off in pairs a few minutes apart, they would be competing against the clock but would maneuver around each other much like NASCAR. The pilots would be guided by a virtual three-dimensional "track" projected in their head-up display . Each racer was to have a separate track to follow but the courses were planned to be close together to build excitement. As of 2008, there were six teams registered to compete in

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