Commercial Space sometimes means flying a rubber chicken to pay the rent. (and it did : ) )
We gearing up for the first full assembly (guts and all) of the Ascender 9 airship on Saturday.#jpaerospace
Today we did a full assemble test of the Ascender 9 airship. A lot of work but it went great.#jpaerospace
Ascender 26 looks so small next to Ascender 9. (we changed how we name them, before it was by length, now it's number of ones we've built.
We completed the full system integration test yesterday on the Ascender 9 airship. It took 12 hours but the team pulled it off. We ran pump, vents, blowers, valve and both main motors. The test gave us a list of mods to do but they are all little things. We're really jazzed. Next stop, the float test.
Experimenting with inflated structures. This is going to be a nose rib for a new airship.#jpaerospace
The next airship, Ascender 10 will be about 25 feet longer than our previous big one, the Ascender 175.#jpaerospace
Tomorrow is the big day for the Ascender 9 airship. First float test! The team has been pushing hard and I think we're ready.#jpaerospace
She Flies!#jpaerospace
Saturday we conducted the first float test of the Ascender 9 airship. She was rock stable. #jpaerospace
300 pound airship floating on the breeze. Tails of the Ascender 9.#jpaerospace
I'm patiently waiting for the 'space' part of this 'aerospace' venture to show up. They seem like great and enthusiastic folks, but on the scale of garage startup to serious player, they do seem closer to the former than the latter.
Quote from: Lars-J on 10/10/2017 03:04 amI'm patiently waiting for the 'space' part of this 'aerospace' venture to show up. They seem like great and enthusiastic folks, but on the scale of garage startup to serious player, they do seem closer to the former than the latter.Well to be fair, they have been a lot closer to space numerous times than many other 'space ventures'. And most importantly, it seems to pay.
Yes but launching balloons to the edge of space is not exactly cutting edge technology, is it?
I was more referring to any kind of space launch that they seem to think they can pull off with an 'airship to orbit'.
Quote from: Lars-JI was more referring to any kind of space launch that they seem to think they can pull off with an 'airship to orbit'.I give it another decade or two.
Inside Ascender 9. Cell number 2 is empty, you can see cell number 3 before behind it starting to fill with helium.#jpaerospace
Quote from: Lars-J on 10/10/2017 03:04 amI'm patiently waiting for the 'space' part of this 'aerospace' venture to show up. They seem like great and enthusiastic folks, but on the scale of garage startup to serious player, they do seem closer to the former than the latter.Personally, I am waiting for them to get to the dark sky station portion, because it is a neat idea to have a high altitude research station, and because then they really get to start experimenting with the "to orbit" part.
What if the Orbital Ascender docked with the International Space Station? #jpaerospace #space