Excalibur Almaz

[Lars_J]

So when is this thread be going to be moved to the "history" section? Because there doesn't seem to be anything new going on. Just putting old flown hardware on display.

[Capt. David]

So when is this thread be going to be moved to the "history" section? Because there doesn't seem to be anything new going on. Just putting old flown hardware on display.

There's actually a lot going on.

Excalibur Almaz is not being promoted as a "Tourist Attraction". They will be offering their equipment for research and scientific missions.

It is true that one of their capsules is used strictly for display purposes, but other than that Excalibur Almaz prefers to stay under the radar while they refit the other capsules with modernized components.

The beauty of the Almaz equipment is its' adaptability. The Reusable Reentry Vehicles can be tailored to fit virtually any mission perimeters, whether it be attached to a small module or launched atop an entire Almaz Orbital Piloted Station.

For example: There is a lot of talk about retrieving and mining an asteroid (with some estimations valuing the contents in the Billions of Dollars). A lot of talk, but realistically there is only one company with the hardware needed for such a mission.

Excalibur Almaz may be flying under the radar, but they are shooting for  the stars.

Ad astra per aspera.

David L. Rickman

[Jim]

So when is this thread be going to be moved to the "history" section? Because there doesn't seem to be anything new going on. Just putting old flown hardware on display.

There's actually a lot going on.

Excalibur Almaz is not being promoted as a "Tourist Attraction". They will be offering their equipment for research and scientific missions.

It is true that one of their capsules is used strictly for display purposes, but other than that Excalibur Almaz prefers to stay under the radar while they refit the other capsules with modernized components.

The beauty of the Almaz equipment is its' adaptability. The Reusable Reentry Vehicles can be tailored to fit virtually any mission perimeters, whether it be attached to a small module or launched atop an entire Almaz Orbital Piloted Station.

For example: There is a lot of talk about retrieving and mining an asteroid (with some estimations valuing the contents in the Billions of Dollars). A lot of talk, but realistically there is only one company with the hardware needed for such a mission.

And it is not Excalibur Almaz.  The hardware is dated and useless.

[Jim]

Looks like people are bailing out on this.  Chiao and Titov are not longer involved.
Excalibur Almaz is no more than men behind a curtain and looking for money vs flying hardware.  They just created a Almaz museum  and a website more than anything else.

[floss]

I inquired about investing in Excaliber Almaz and was told that minimum investment is one  million pounds .Not the actions of a money scam.

[Danderman]

I inquired about investing in Excaliber Almaz and was told that minimum investment is one  million pounds .Not the actions of a money scam.

The problem here is what is known as "investment" risk - you put in your investment, and then you have to hope that the company finds other investors to follow up, or else your money is at great risk.

Of course, their principal strategy would be "trolling for billionaires", finding someone with the cash to fund the whole thing. The problem is that billionaires tend to fund their own schemes, not someone else's idea.

Excalibur Almaz is certainly not a scam, but requires a significant amount of capital to get off the ground. There is a good argument that the Almaz hardware would cost more to fly than a clean sheet design, which implies that the company is further away from flying than any of us sitting around writing and reading this stuff (if you follow the logic).

[floss]

Yup but I helped to fund a computer game with crowed  funding they are at 18 million today .Now if there was a spaceflight lotto we could be at mars by now.

[Danderman]

Yup but I helped to fund a computer game with crowed  funding they are at 18 million today .Now if there was a spaceflight lotto we could be at mars by now.

$18 million is a drop in the bucket as far as required funding to put an Almaz space station in orbit, or to fly one of their capsules in space.

[floss]

Yup but I helped to fund a computer game with crowed  funding they are at 18 million today .Now if there was a spaceflight lotto we could be at mars by now.

$18 million is a drop in the bucket as far as required funding to put an Almaz space station in orbit, or to fly one of their capsules in space.

Was only giving an example of the power of crowd funding .Funding manned spaceflight is like a church .

[Lars_J]

I inquired about investing in Excaliber Almaz and was told that minimum investment is one  million pounds .Not the actions of a money scam.

Excalibur Almaz may not be a 100% scam, but if you plot it on a range between a serious effort and a scam, it will end up much closer to a scam than not. Buying museum pieces with is not a serious spaceflights effort. IMO.

[Moe Grills]

Looks like people are bailing out on this.  Chiao and Titov are not longer involved.
Excalibur Almaz is no more than men behind a curtain and looking for money vs flying hardware.  They just created a Almaz museum  and a website more than anything else.

I have to agree with you on this one, Jim.
If the executives running Excalibur Almaz were prudent and dedicated about launching revamped Soviet-era hardware into orbit they would
have to choose to use Elon Musk's FH as the booster for hardware that ranges upto 15-20 metric tons.
Nothing from the EA executives or Elon about that possibility.
   But with all those engaged in secrecy in commercial spaceflight, Blue Origin and EA are just two examples, somebody close to these people or running in their circles always leaks the facts eventually. 

[QuantumG]

There's no "scale" between serious effort and scam. A scam is a difference of kind, not scale. This is not the first time I've heard someone make this comparison. Please understand that you're accusing someone of a crime by suggesting they're engaging in a scam. It's not something you do lightly. Now, if you want to suggest they are being naive, or they're simply broke, go for it!

[Danderman]

There's no "scale" between serious effort and scam. A scam is a difference of kind, not scale. This is not the first time I've heard someone make this comparison. Please understand that you're accusing someone of a crime by suggesting they're engaging in a scam. It's not something you do lightly. Now, if you want to suggest they are being naive, or they're simply broke, go for it!

It's real simple here.

Excalibur Almaz came up with seed money for the project, which was intended to help them generate the large investment necessary to modernize and fly the hardware they have access to.

For the last few years, they have used that seed money to develop their web site, get physical access to some of the hardware, promote the project, and maybe pay for some engineering studies. But, they have not been able to generate the required large investment.

I don't see anything close to a scam there. What I do see is a long shot effort to secure a large investment. An investment of a million pounds would give the company another X months to find the big investor.

All this is based on reading tea leaves from public statements, not that I have any inside information.

[Capt. David]

No leaked secrets , but...

Excalibur Almaz is doing quite nicely. Some people have left while others were gained, so the turnover would be a very bad indicator of their progress.

Since Excalibur Almaz will not be catering to, nor accepting tourist they have no need to send out fliers, shoot fireworks, and call for press conferences during every positive step toward the final design.

But, yes - progress is rolling along quite nicely.

Best,

David L. Rickman

[Patchouli]

Looks like people are bailing out on this.  Chiao and Titov are not longer involved.
Excalibur Almaz is no more than men behind a curtain and looking for money vs flying hardware.  They just created a Almaz museum  and a website more than anything else.

I have to agree with you on this one, Jim.
If the executives running Excalibur Almaz were prudent and dedicated about launching revamped Soviet-era hardware into orbit they would
have to choose to use Elon Musk's FH as the booster for hardware that ranges upto 15-20 metric tons.
Nothing from the EA executives or Elon about that possibility.
   But with all those engaged in secrecy in commercial spaceflight, Blue Origin and EA are just two examples, somebody close to these people or running in their circles always leaks the facts eventually. 

FH would be by far the cheapest ride up for their stations though Proton would be the least amount of work engineering wise.
The Atlas 552 also could lift it but might be too expensive.

[Danderman]

If the executives running Excalibur Almaz were prudent and dedicated about launching revamped Soviet-era hardware into orbit they would
have to choose to use Elon Musk's FH as the booster for hardware that ranges upto 15-20 metric tons.

There are two different launch issues here, the capsule and the space station.

The problem in choosing launcher is not just the mass required to enter orbit, but rather the interface with all of the spacecraft systems - you can't just take an Almaz space station, bring it to Cape Canaveral and launch it, since there are no checkout facilities for Almaz in Florida, nor any interfaces at the launch pads.

The reality is for the space stations, Baiknour is the only affordable launch site.

The capsules may be a different story, but I am not sure that launching over water would work for the capsule.

[Capt. David]

The capsules may be a different story, but I am not sure that launching over water would work for the capsule.

Interesting comment, but I must ask why would launching the capsule over water be a problem?

[Zond]

No leaked secrets , but...

Excalibur Almaz is doing quite nicely. Some people have left while others were gained, so the turnover would be a very bad indicator of their progress.

Since Excalibur Almaz will not be catering to, nor accepting tourist they have no need to send out fliers, shoot fireworks, and call for press conferences during every positive step toward the final design.

But, yes - progress is rolling along quite nicely.

Best,

David L. Rickman

Hmmm, what is this:

Excalibur Almaz addressable markets will include:
1) Unmanned micro-gravity scientific research missions
2) Human transportation including crew and tourism
3) Cargo delivery and return
4) Chartered space exploration

Certainly looks to me like they are catering to tourists.
One solid bit of evidence of progress would be nice (and rolling out an Almaz capsule or space station for the nth time doesn't count).

[Danderman]

The capsules may be a different story, but I am not sure that launching over water would work for the capsule.

Interesting comment, but I must ask why would launching the capsule over water be a problem?

Launching over water could be a problem if there is ditching in the mid-ocean. AFAIK, the Almaz capsule was never rated for long term survival in the ocean. As we know, Soyuz is not rated for long term survival in the ocean, so systems are in place to avoid that on re-entry and launch.

[Prober]

If the executives running Excalibur Almaz were prudent and dedicated about launching revamped Soviet-era hardware into orbit they would
have to choose to use Elon Musk's FH as the booster for hardware that ranges upto 15-20 metric tons.

There are two different launch issues here, the capsule and the space station.

The problem in choosing launcher is not just the mass required to enter orbit, but rather the interface with all of the spacecraft systems - you can't just take an Almaz space station, bring it to Cape Canaveral and launch it, since there are no checkout facilities for Almaz in Florida, nor any interfaces at the launch pads.

The reality is for the space stations, Baiknour is the only affordable launch site.

The capsules may be a different story, but I am not sure that launching over water would work for the capsule.

Baiknour is in decline .....by the time these systems are ready a choice will need to be made if ever.