Da Vinci Project

Canadian spaceflight project

The da Vinci Project was a privately funded, volunteer-staffed attempt to launch a reusable crewed sub-orbital spacecraft. It was formed in 1996 specifically to be a contender for the Ansari X Prize for the first non-governmental reusable crewed spacecraft. The project was based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and led by Brian Feeney.[1]

The original da Vinci Project is no longer operating. A documentary was filmed throughout much of the project's life from 2000 through post-X Prize roundup footage in 2008. The documentary accumulated some 1000 hours or so of footage. It was a private undertaking by Michel Jones of Riverstone Productions, Toronto, and as of early 2009 was still in a preliminary stage of editing and completion.[citation needed]

The project last participated in the X Prize Cup 2005, displaying a mock-up of its Wild Fire MK Vl spacecraft.

## Spacecraft design

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The project's design was a rocket-powered spacecraft to be air-launched from a helium balloon at an altitude of about 21 km (65,000 ft).[2] The project scope included design and construction of both the spacecraft and the launching balloon.[1] The chosen design can be described as a crewed rockoon.

## History and status

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The project was established in 1996. It is named after Leonardo da Vinci, who, among innumerable other inventions, was the first recorded person to design an aircraft. The project was staffed entirely by volunteers.[3]

The project unveiled a mockup of their spacecraft, Wild Fire, on August 5, 2004 at a hangar at Downsview Airport in Toronto. At this point, it was considered a contender for the Ansari X Prize, and Tier One had just given notice of their planned competitive flights. When announcing the unveiling, the da Vinci Project also appealed for funds to fly Wild Fire. An agreement was reached with GoldenPalace.com, and the project subsequently gave the required 60-day notice that they would make the Ansari X Prize competitive flights.[3] GoldenPalace.com, known for its marketing gimmicks, was to place a soccer ball kicked out of the stadium by David Beckham during the 2004 Euro World Cup inside the space craft.[4]

The da Vinci Project initially announced that it would fly first on October 2, 2004, launching from Kindersley, Saskatchewan. This was only three days after the first expected X Prize flight, by Scaled Composites, on September 29, 2004. However, on September 23, 2004 the da Vinci project announced that they would not be ready.[2] Scaled Composites won the X Prize on October 4, 2004.

## Hardware

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The rocket and support equipment was mostly COTS components with a hybrid propulsion system using nitrous oxide and a spin cast paraffin fuel engine in a re-loadable and expendable cardboard cartridge. The most notable development problem was finding a practical low cost solution to the thermal contraction of the liquid paraffin fuel when it cooled and solidified inside the cartridge inner casing. The capsule used two automotive racing seats and aviation BRS parachute systems and was designed and modeled with finite element software. The nozzle was carbon fiber exterior with a tough, thermally insulating inner coating. The combustion chamber was metallic, although a wound carbon fiber exterior was planned but never completed. The planned tracking system used a four car team with networked laptop computers using a hybrid cellular and shortwave radio with the capability of automatically predicting the landing spot so a support team could converge on the landing spot hand prior to landing. The highest forces were predicted to be at re-entry, peaking at approximately at up to 6G. Development, construction and testing continued in earnest until the second flight of the X Prize on October 4, 2004.

## Structure

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The project had a small group of core area leaders and relied heavily on volunteer efforts. It followed a variety of business models including share ownership partners, technology partnerships, employee style volunteering, integrator as well as technology/IP aggregator. Many of the expensive components were donated by businesses in exchange for recognition on the website homepage, since removed.

## References

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1. ^ a b Malik, Tariq (24 September 2004). "Canadian X Prize Team Delays Launch Attempt". Purch. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
2. ^ a b Twist, Jo (5 August 2004). "Second team goes for space prize". BBC News. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
3. ^ a b David, Leonard (27 July 2004). "The Next Great Space Race: SpaceShipOne and Wild Fire to Go For the Gold". Purch. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
4. ^ Leyden, John (6 August 2004). "Beckham penalty outrage ball heads for space: bid for infamous sphere". The Register. Retrieved September 20, 2012.

## External links

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* [1]
* Daily Planet video: Interview with Brian Feeney about launch delay

## See also

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* List of private spaceflight companies \- A compiled list of private spaceflight companies

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Space tourism

Organizations|

| Active|

* Axiom Space
* Blue Origin
* Airbus D&S
* Mojave Aerospace Ventures
* Orbital Technologies
* PDAS
* Redwire
* Sierra Nevada Corporation
* Space Adventures
* SpaceX
* The Spaceship Company
* Virgin Galactic
* CAS Space
* ARCA
* Association of Autonomous Astronauts
* Astronaute Club Européen
* Commercial Spaceflight Federation
* Copenhagen Suborbitals
* Space Frontier Foundation
* Space Tourism Society

|

Defunct|

* Armadillo Aerospace
* Bigelow Aerospace
* Canadian Arrow
* Golden Spike Company
* MirCorp
* Orion Span
* PlanetSpace
* RocketShip Tours
* Space Island Group (Space Island Project)
* XCOR Aerospace

Vehicles|

* Current
* Soyuz
* Dragon 2
* New Shepard
* Future
* New Glenn
* Starliner
* Starship
* Retired
* SpaceShipTwo

Living in space|

* Commercialization of space
* Space colonization
* Space medicine
* Space settlement
* Space station
* Suborbital spaceplane

Space competitions|

* America's Space Prize
* Ansari X Prize
* Google Lunar X Prize
* Space elevator competitions

Space tourists|

| Past|

* Dennis Tito
* Mark Shuttleworth
* Gregory Olsen
* Anousheh Ansari
* Charles Simonyi
* Richard Garriott
* Guy Laliberté
* Oliver Daemen
* Jared Isaacman
* Sian Proctor
* Hayley Arceneaux
* Christopher Sembroski
* Yusaku Maezawa
* Yozo Hirano
* Larry Connor
* Mark Pathy
* Eytan Stibbe
* John Shoffner

|

Space tourism
missions|

| Past|

* Inspiration4
* Blue Origin NS-16
* Blue Origin NS-18
* Blue Origin NS-19
* Blue Origin NS-20
* Blue Origin NS-21
* Blue Origin NS-22
* Galactic 02
* Galactic 03
* Galactic 04
* Galactic 05
* Galactic 06
* Axiom-1
* Axiom-2
* Polaris Dawn

|

Cancelled|

* dearMoon

Related|

* Axiom Station
* Tourism on the Moon
* Tourism on Mars
* Haven-1

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* e

Spaceplanes

Canada|

* Wild Fire

China|

* Project 921-3
* Shenlong

Europe|

| Canceled|

* ARES
* Bristol Ascender, Spacebus, Spacecab
* Falke
* Hermes
* Hopper
* HOTOL
* MUSTARD
* Orizont
* S3 SOAR
* Saenger
* Silbervogel

|

Historical|

* IXV

In development|

* Airbus
* Skylon
* Space Rider
* SpaceLiner

India|

| Canceled|

* AVATAR

|

In development|

* RLV-TD
* Hypersonic Flight Experiment

Japan|

* HYFLEX/OREX/ALFLEX
* HOPE-X
* WIRES

Soviet Union/Russia|

* BOR-4
* BOR-5
* Buran
* Explorer
* Keldysh bomber
* Kliper
* Lapotok
* LKS
* MAKS (Molniya)
* RAKS (Tu-444/2000)
* Spiral
* Zvezda (Tu-136/139)

United States|

| Active|

* Boeing X-37

|

Historical|

* North American X-15
* ASSET
* Martin X-23 PRIME
* SpaceShipOne
* Space Shuttle (program, Shuttle–Mir Program)
* SpaceShipTwo

Canceled|

* Chrysler SERV
* DARPA Falcon Project
* Martin Marietta Spacemaster
* X-20 Dyna-Soar
* Orbital Sciences X-34
* Rockwell X-30 (NASP)
* NASA X-43
* Silver Dart
* HL-20
* HL-42
* Rocketplane XP
* VentureStar
* Black Horse
* NASA X-38 (Spacewedge)
* XCOR Lynx
* Xerus
* Prometheus
* DARPA XS-1
* SpaceShipThree

In development|

* Dream Chaser
* Radian One

Black projects|

* Blackstar
* TR-3A Black Manta
* X-41 Common Aero Vehicle
* Aurora aircraft
* Military flying saucers

* v
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Ansari X Prize

* X Prize Foundation

Competitors|

* Armadillo Aerospace
* ARCA Space Corporation
* Bristol Spaceplanes
* Canadian Arrow
* da Vinci Project
* Interorbital Systems
* Mojave Aerospace Ventures*
* Space Transport Corporation

Winner|

* Mojave Aerospace Ventures
* Scaled Composites
* Burt Rutan
* Vulcan Inc.
* Paul Allen
* Tier One
* SpaceShipOne
* X Flight 1
* X Flight 2
* White Knight One
* Brian Binnie
* Mike Melvill
* Peter Siebold

People|

* Amir Ansari
* Anousheh Ansari
* Peter Diamandis

Media|

* Black Sky: The Race For Space
* How to Make a Spaceship

Related|

* Virgin Galactic
* The Spaceship Company
* Tier 1b
* White Knight Two
* SpaceShipTwo
* X Prize Cup
* XCOR EZ Rocket
* Rocket Racing League

* * -- indicates winning team

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