Canadian Arrow
Encyclopedia
The Canadian Arrow is a privately funded rocket
and space
travel project founded by London, Ontario
, Canada
entrepreneurs Geoff Sheerin, Dan McKibbon and Chris Corke. The project's objective was to take the first civilians into space
, on a vertical sub-orbital spaceflight
reaching an altitude of 112 km.
Canadian Arrow was considered one of the top three candidates for the X-Prize
competition, along with Scaled Composites
(Burt Rutan
), and Armadillo Aerospace
(John Carmack). Scaled Composites won the competition on October 4, 2004.
The Canadian Arrow team's motto is "making SPACE for you". They have completed the first series of tests on their 57,000 lbf (254 kN) thrust engine and have built a space training centre and a full scale mock-up of their rocket. After an open nomination process, they also recruited a team of six astronauts from around the world, including several seasoned military pilots and a NASA
trained astronaut
from Ukraine
.
In November of 2010 Geoff Sheerin, the president of Canadian Arrow stated the company is unlikely to fly a Canadian Arrow rocket as a space tourism vehicle.
The Canadian Arrow is a 16.5 m tall two-stage rocket, where the second stage is a three-person space capsule. The Canadian Arrow team's somewhat conservative approach has been to base the design of their rocket engine and aerodynamics on the well proven V-2
design from WWII
.
-type solid rocket engines. These are ignited immediately after stage separation, and will carry the capsule to an altitude of ~112 km. Cold gas jets were planned to be used for attitude control.
The rocket engine was to use alcohol and liquid oxygen as propellants, and produces a maximum thrust of 254 kN, and burns for 55 s. It is constructed of low carbon steel, with propellant injectors made out of brass
.
After stage separation the first stage reaches an apogee of over 80 km before descent begins. Four parachutes slow the Canadian Arrow's first stage down before splashdown occurs at a speed of ~9 m/s, after which recovery of the spacecraft can take place.
During descent, the crew cabin (the second stage) was planned to use a ballute
to reduce its speed. When its velocity becomes subsonic, the second stage's ballute was to be released and pull out the three parachutes before splashdown.
In early 2003 the company would receive a major infusion of financial support by Canadian Arrow partner and Director of Spacecraft Development - Lou van Amelsvoort.
As a result, during the next two years The Company would also proceed to open the world’s first private Astronaut training facility, continue vehicle development, and test propulsion and recovery systems.
Geoff Sheerin, President and CEO of Canadian Arrow, and Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria announced on May 17, 2005, the creation of PlanetSpace Corporation
. It is through this enterprise that Canadian Arrow will complete the construction of their space craft, and within 24 months offer suborbital space flight to aspiring space tourists. Planetspace expects to fly about 2,000 new astronauts within five years of operation. The price is expected to be $250,000 for each flight, including fourteen days of training. Cape Breton Island
, in Nova Scotia
is being considered as a launch site, and a contract has been signed with the government of Nova Scotia to provide 120 acre (0.4856232 km²) of land for the project.
A requirement of the X-Prize for each participating company was to propose other possible markets for their spacecraft. Canadian Arrow coined the term "Spacediving", while investigating the possible use of Canadian Arrow spacecraft for a high altitude version of skydiving.
On November 11, 2005 Canadian Arrow teamed up with former X-Prize competitor Romanian aerospace company, ARCASPACE
, to develop privately built spacecraft.
On December 15, 2005 PlanetSpace Corporation
unveiled plans for an orbital commercial vehicle capable of carrying eight passengers. This vehicle to be called the Silver Dart is based on the U.S. Air Force's Flight Dynamics Laboratory-7 lifting body
program from the 1970s.
Image:Astronauts-sm.jpg|Canadian Arrow Astronauts.
Image:Canadian Arrow Drop3.jpg|Helicopter beginning Canadian Arrow's crew cabin drop test on the Toronto Islands
, August 14, 2004.
Image:Canadian Arrow Drop8.jpg|Canadian Arrow's crew cabin drop test parachute landing, August 14, 2004.
Image:DropTest Toronto beach 003.jpg|Canadian Arrow Engineering Department members.
Image:Water lift off 2 Canadian Arrow.jpg|Canadian Arrow concept rendering of a water lift off.
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
and space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
travel project founded by London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
entrepreneurs Geoff Sheerin, Dan McKibbon and Chris Corke. The project's objective was to take the first civilians into space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
, on a vertical sub-orbital spaceflight
Sub-orbital spaceflight
A sub-orbital space flight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it does not complete one orbital revolution....
reaching an altitude of 112 km.
Canadian Arrow was considered one of the top three candidates for the X-Prize
Ansari X Prize
The Ansari X Prize was a space competition in which the X Prize Foundation offered a US$10,000,000 prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks...
competition, along with Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...
(Burt Rutan
Burt Rutan
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft...
), and Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace is an aerospace startup company based in Mesquite, Texas. Its initial goal is to build a manned suborbital spacecraft capable of space tourism, but it has stated long-term ambitions of orbital spaceflight. The company was founded by John Carmack.On October 24, 2008, Armadillo...
(John Carmack). Scaled Composites won the competition on October 4, 2004.
The Canadian Arrow team's motto is "making SPACE for you". They have completed the first series of tests on their 57,000 lbf (254 kN) thrust engine and have built a space training centre and a full scale mock-up of their rocket. After an open nomination process, they also recruited a team of six astronauts from around the world, including several seasoned military pilots and a NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
trained astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
from Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
.
In November of 2010 Geoff Sheerin, the president of Canadian Arrow stated the company is unlikely to fly a Canadian Arrow rocket as a space tourism vehicle.
Design
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
design from WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
First stage
The rocket's first stage is 10.2 m long and 1.7 m in diameter. It is propelled by a single liquid fuel rocket engine. It produces a thrust of 254 kN. Graphite jet vanes are used for stabilisation before the rocket has reached a velocity high enough for the four fins to be effective. About one minute after ignition, the fuel is depleted and the engine shuts off.Second stage
The rocket's second stage is 6 m long and 1.7 m in diameter at the base. It carries three astronauts and is propelled by four JATOJATO
JATO is an acronym for jet-fuel assisted take off. It is a system for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets....
-type solid rocket engines. These are ignited immediately after stage separation, and will carry the capsule to an altitude of ~112 km. Cold gas jets were planned to be used for attitude control.
Crew Cabin Escape System
The design proposed four solid rocket engines in the second stage that could be fired at any time, even when the rocket stands on its launch pad. This constitutes an escape system, which can, in a case of an emergency, quickly separate the second stage from the rocket and propel it to an altitude of 1.5 km, where its parachutes can be deployed.Rocket engine
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
.
Flight profile
The Canadian Arrow rocket will launch vertically from the ground. Initial thrust is ~75.5 kN, but the rocket quickly reaches maximum thrust. After 55 s, the propellant is depleted and stage separation occurs. The solid fuel rockets in the second stage are ignited and boosts it up to an altitude of ~112 km, where the crew and passengers will experience a few minutes of "zero-G", or weightlessness.After stage separation the first stage reaches an apogee of over 80 km before descent begins. Four parachutes slow the Canadian Arrow's first stage down before splashdown occurs at a speed of ~9 m/s, after which recovery of the spacecraft can take place.
During descent, the crew cabin (the second stage) was planned to use a ballute
Ballute
A ballute was invented by Goodyear in 1958. It is a parachute braking device that is optimized for use at high altitudes and high supersonic velocities. The original ballute was a cone-shaped balloon with a toroidal burble fence fitted around its widest point...
to reduce its speed. When its velocity becomes subsonic, the second stage's ballute was to be released and pull out the three parachutes before splashdown.
Testing
- Summer, 2002: Single burner cup engine test.
- October 5, 2002: The rocket test stand complete.
- November 7, 2003: First engine tests conducted.
- August 14, 2004: Canadian Arrow carries out a successful drop test of the crew cabin, to test the parachutes and recovery routines.
Funding, commercial aspects and the future
Canadian Arrow started as a team competing in the international X-Prize competition, with the ultimate goal of continuing past the X-Prize into the commercial sector providing private access to space. Funding during the X-Prize was provided by sponsorship and private investment.In early 2003 the company would receive a major infusion of financial support by Canadian Arrow partner and Director of Spacecraft Development - Lou van Amelsvoort.
As a result, during the next two years The Company would also proceed to open the world’s first private Astronaut training facility, continue vehicle development, and test propulsion and recovery systems.
PlanetSpace
PlanetSpace is a privately funded Chicago-based rocket and space travel project founded by Geoff Sheerin, CEO of the Canadian Arrow corporation and Dr...
. It is through this enterprise that Canadian Arrow will complete the construction of their space craft, and within 24 months offer suborbital space flight to aspiring space tourists. Planetspace expects to fly about 2,000 new astronauts within five years of operation. The price is expected to be $250,000 for each flight, including fourteen days of training. Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
, in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
is being considered as a launch site, and a contract has been signed with the government of Nova Scotia to provide 120 acre (0.4856232 km²) of land for the project.
A requirement of the X-Prize for each participating company was to propose other possible markets for their spacecraft. Canadian Arrow coined the term "Spacediving", while investigating the possible use of Canadian Arrow spacecraft for a high altitude version of skydiving.
On November 11, 2005 Canadian Arrow teamed up with former X-Prize competitor Romanian aerospace company, ARCASPACE
ARCASPACE
Asociația Română pentru Cosmonautică și Aeronautică or Romanian Cosmonautics and Aeronautics Association is a non-governmental organization that promotes aerospace projects as well as other space-related activities...
, to develop privately built spacecraft.
On December 15, 2005 PlanetSpace Corporation
PlanetSpace
PlanetSpace is a privately funded Chicago-based rocket and space travel project founded by Geoff Sheerin, CEO of the Canadian Arrow corporation and Dr...
unveiled plans for an orbital commercial vehicle capable of carrying eight passengers. This vehicle to be called the Silver Dart is based on the U.S. Air Force's Flight Dynamics Laboratory-7 lifting body
Lifting body
A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage with little or no conventional wing...
program from the 1970s.
Picture gallery
Image:Astronauts-sm.jpg|Canadian Arrow Astronauts.
Image:Canadian Arrow Drop3.jpg|Helicopter beginning Canadian Arrow's crew cabin drop test on the Toronto Islands
Toronto Islands
The Toronto Islands are a chain of small islands in the city of Toronto, Ontario. Comprising the only group of islands in the western part of Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands are located just offshore from the city centre, and provide shelter for Toronto Harbour...
, August 14, 2004.
Image:Canadian Arrow Drop8.jpg|Canadian Arrow's crew cabin drop test parachute landing, August 14, 2004.
Image:DropTest Toronto beach 003.jpg|Canadian Arrow Engineering Department members.
Image:Water lift off 2 Canadian Arrow.jpg|Canadian Arrow concept rendering of a water lift off.
See also
- List of private spaceflight companies - A compiled list of private spaceflight companies
- Terry WongTerry WongCaptain Terry Wong, a helicopter pilot with the Canadian Forces, is slated to become the next Canadian astronaut, with the private firm Canadian Arrow....
, pilot