Well it was a crude attempt to be humorous, thank you for the serious reply. I do like the post about separating attitude from guidance controls. Combining the two in one device seems easy with computer horsepower (well easier) but I wonder if it would be a better approach to do each seperatly. Does gizmocopter know where it is when it flies?
Randall Clague wrote: > On Tue, 17 Dec 2002 22:14:25 -0500, Alex Fraser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > >I'm not so sure you need real accurate guidance for a space ship, isn't > >space a real big target? How could you miss? > > The trick to flying, as Douglas Adams pointed out, is to throw > yourself at the ground and miss. So getting to space requires little > accuracy, you just have to stay pointed generally up. > > But if you don't make orbit, you'll just fall back down. What good ia > that? (Well, there's tourism...) And to make orbit, you have to > climb up out of the atmosphere, then throw yourself *parallel* to the > ground. You'll cover hundreds of miles as you do this, and you have > to keep pointed in the same direction so you don't hit the ground, or > the air, or get too high and hit the air on the other side of the > planet, etc. > > If you delta-v running out of your ears, you can take Vanguard > approach. They went way up, and didn't do that wonderful a job of > flying parallel to the ground. But because they went way up, their > margin for error went way up too. The Vanguards, launched in 1958 and > 1959, are still up there, though you need a good telescope to see > them. > > If you don't have a lot of delta-v to spare, you have to be pretty > accurate in your navigation. Otherwise you could reach orbital > velocity but fail to make orbit. > > -R > > -- > "Is this a bagel?" > "It's the Guardian of Forever!" > "Well yes. But is it a bagel?" > --Overheard at Loscon 29 > _______________________________________________ > ERPS-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list -- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>----<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ........ Alex Fraser N3DER ......... ......... [EMAIL PROTECTED] ....... [~]_>^</\-[~]_>^</\-[~]_>^</\-[~]_>^< _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
