Scaled Composites

Scaled Composites, LLC

Type	Division
Industry	Aerospace
Founded	Mojave, California (1982)
Headquarters	Mojave, California
Key people	Doug Shane President Burt Rutan Founder
Products	Air vehicle design, tooling, and manufacturing, specialty composite structure design, analysis and fabrication and developmental flight test
Revenue	$20-30 million
Employees	over 200
Parent	Northrop Grumman
Website	scaled.com

Scaled Composites (often abbreviated as Scaled) 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. Prior to acquisition by Northrop Grumman, the company was founded to develop experimental aircraft, but now focuses on designing and developing concept craft and prototype fabrication processes for aircraft and other vehicles. It is known for unconventional designs, for its use of non-metal, composite materials, and for winning the Ansari X Prize with its experimental spacecraft SpaceShipOne.

1 Company history
2 Aircraft projects
3 Non-aircraft work
4 References
5 External links

Company history

Scaled Composites was established in 1982 and purchased by the Beech Aircraft Corporation in 1985, as a result of the collaboration on the Starship project. In 1988, Beech's parent company, Raytheon, sold Scaled back to Rutan, who then sold it to Wyman-Gordon. After Wyman-Gordon was acquired by Precision Castparts Corp., Rutan and ten investors re-acquired the company as Scaled Composites, LLC. Northrop Grumman, a major shareholder in the company with a 40% stake, said it would acquire the company outright on July 20, 2007. Both companies said Northrop Grumman's acquisition would not affect Scaled Composites' strategy or involve replacing Burt Rutan as senior manager.^[1]^[2] The acquisition by Northrop Grumman was completed on August 24, 2007.^[3] Rutan retired in April 2011.^[4]

SpaceShipOne

Main article: Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne

The company revealed in April 2003 that it was working on a privately funded spacecraft, in an attempt to win the Ansari X PRIZE for the first private, manned spaceflight. This experimental rocket-powered spacecraft was given the name SpaceShipOne. On December 17, 2003, they announced SpaceShipOne's first supersonic flight, the first flight of its kind by a privately funded aircraft. SpaceShipOne successfully made this flight, reaching 68,000 feet (21,000 m) and 930 mph (Mach 1.2). The craft was brought aloft by the White Knight carrier aircraft. On the same day, Paul Allen, one of the founders of Microsoft, confirmed publicly the rumors that he was the angel investor behind the SpaceShipOne venture.

On April 1, 2004, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued the company what it called the world's first license for a sub-orbital manned rocket flight.^[5] The license was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which has backed licenses for more than 150 commercial launches of unmanned launch vehicles in its 20 years, but never a license for manned flight on a sub-orbital trajectory. The Mojave Airport, operating part-time as Mojave Spaceport, is the launch point for SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne performed the first privately funded human spaceflight on June 21, 2004. Flight 16P on September 29, 2004 and Flight 17P on October 4, 2004 won the X-Prize for Scaled Composites and SpaceShipOne.

Other famous vehicles

Before forming Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan designed several aircraft for amateur builders, including the famous VariEze, often considered one of general aviation's most innovative designs. He also designed the Beechcraft Starship, which was, however, a commercial failure. These aircraft were novel because of their canard configuration, winglets and pusher propellers.

Before SpaceShipOne, Rutan was best known for his Voyager aircraft, which his brother, Dick Rutan, and Jeana Yeager flew around the world without refueling in 1986. In 2005, the single-jet Global Flyer was flown by billionaire adventurer Steve Fossett on the first solo non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world, and later in the longest flight in history: 41,467.53 km (25,766.73 mi).

Although their role was not widely publicized, Rutan and John Roncz, who had provided aerodynamics support to a number of previous Rutan projects including Starship, helped design, and Scaled manufactured, the double slotted wing mast for the 1988 Stars & Stripes catamaran for Dennis Conner's entry of that year in the America's Cup yacht race.

Safety incidents

On July 26, 2007, an explosion occurred during testing of SpaceShipTwo's systems, killing three employees and injuring three more.^[6]

Aircraft projects

Rutan Aircraft Factory aircraft

Model 27 VariViggen (1972)
Model 31 VariEze (1975)
Model 32 VariViggen SP (1973)
Model 33 VariEze (1976)
Model 35 AD-1 (1979)
Model 40/74 Defiant (1978)
Model 54 Quickie (1978)
Model 61 Long-EZ (1979)
Model 68 AMSOIL Racer (1981)
Model 73 NGT: Three-fifths scale model of Fairchild T-46 trainer (1981)
Model 76 Voyager: First aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth non-refueled, non-stop (1986)
Model 77 Solitaire (1982)