[Thork]

So first prize for a hole in one, is a trip to space next year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/29198807

"We're going to space!" Whooped the caddie.

Nuneaton golfer Andy Sullivan has won a trip to space next year after a hole-in-one during the final round of the KLM Open in Zandvoort, Netherlands.

XCOR Space Expeditions awarded the prize for the first player to ace the par-three 15th during the tournament.

Sullivan, 28, said he was "not the best flyer", but would undertake the 30-minute flight to 100km (330,000 feet).

However there are one or two problems with this promise.

The first, is that their roadmap doesn't have any flights into space scheduled next year. In fact, their highest flight in 2015 is 60km. Not the 100km they have promised as a prize.
http://spacexc.com/en/bookings/

Ok, so what have they achieved so far. Well in the Lynx I spaceship (lol, sniggering), they haven't done a single flight yet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCOR_Lynx#Lynx

I'm not sure I'd be getting on that thing next year for a trip to space.

So what have they been flying?
http://xcor.com/products/vehicles/previous_projects.html
A Burt Rutan Velocity. A bloody 19 year old kit plane with rocket engine from the ill-fated 2011 rocket racing series that never saw the light of day either. Highest flight 10,000m. Lower than an airliner. Burt Rutan ... oh, they same serial aero-shyster that made the Virgin spaceship one, scheduled for first flight into space (actually 100km parabolic loop) a staggering 10 years ago! and of course never got close.

I'm wondering if they thought the stated odds of 3000:1 on any golfer making that shot on that hole on that day were enough to take a risk and offer their prize. This is going to be an amusing slow burn story that ends in embarrassment and another victory for Flat Earth!

[Tau]

I'm almost embarrassed on their behalf

[Thork]

It is actually more embarrassing when you see their plans. So far they have used an aircraft with a max speed of 230 mph.
They claim that the #2 version of their 'proper vehicle'  remember #1 hasn't flown yet, will do mach 2.9. About 2,200 mph. I'm being generous because I doubt it will do mach 2.9 at sea level. But anyway.



Interestingly earth's escape velocity is 25,000 mph. So they aren't making a spaceship. They are making an aircraft. It needs lift ... ergo air ... ergo not space.

The x-15 achieved this back in the 60's. It was an aircraft. The whole thing is just a big con. They aren't trying to get people into space at all, let alone orbit. And why? Because it can't be done. The earth is not a ball.

The Kármán line is a joke on the public. 100km is the definition of space, but its not. Aircraft can fly there. And the space shysters are exploiting this loop hole in the definition.

[Ghost of V]

It is actually more embarrassing when you see their plans. So far they have used an aircraft with a max speed of 230 mph.
They claim that the #2 version of their 'proper vehicle'  remember #1 hasn't flown yet, will do mach 2.9. About 2,200 mph. I'm being generous because I doubt it will do mach 2.9 at sea level. But anyway.



Interestingly earth's escape velocity is 25,000 mph. So they aren't making a spaceship. They are making an aircraft. It needs lift ... ergo air ... ergo not space.

The x-15 achieved this back in the 60's. It was an aircraft. The whole thing is just a big con. They aren't trying to get people into space at all, let alone orbit. And why? Because it can't be done. The earth is not a ball.

The Kármán line is a joke on the public. 100km is the definition of space, but its not. Aircraft can fly there. And the space shysters are exploiting this loop hole in the definition.

They may be using an aetherium fuel that warps spacetime. But, the more plausible explanation would be that they're lying and expecting everyone to be too dumb to figure it out.

[anounceofsaltperday]

Is this the machine that stopped working once it got to 80,000' altitude?

[markjo]

I'm being generous because I doubt it will do mach 2.9 at sea level. But anyway.

Who said anything about Mach 2.9 at sea level? 

Interestingly earth's escape velocity is 25,000 mph. So they aren't making a spaceship. They are making an aircraft. It needs lift ... ergo air ... ergo not space.

Who said anything about escape velocity?

The x-15 achieved this back in the 60's. It was an aircraft. The whole thing is just a big con. They aren't trying to get people into space at all, let alone orbit.

Who said anything about orbit? 

The Kármán line is a joke on the public. 100km is the definition of space, but its not. Aircraft can fly there.

What aircraft fly at 100km? 

Seriously Thork, what's with all of the straw men?

[Saddam Hussein]

This is going to be an amusing slow burn story that ends in embarrassment and another victory for Flat Earth!

Unfortunately, I can't say that I agree with this.  The media almost certainly aren't going to be writing an article a year from now talking about how XCOR totally dropped the ball and couldn't give this guy his trip into space.  They never bother to chronicle the space industry's many, many failures, delays, and setbacks.  All they do is blindly parrot them whenever they announce that they're going into space Very Soon Now.

[Gulliver]

Interestingly earth's escape velocity is 25,000 mph. So they aren't making a spaceship. They are making an aircraft. It needs lift ... ergo air ... ergo not space.

Who said anything about escape velocity?

Great point. Thork has again demonstrated his failure to understand the basics of flight. No spaceship need reach escape velocity to make it to space.

In physics, escape velocity is the speed at which the sum of an object's kinetic energy and its gravitational potential energy is equal to zero.[nb 1] It is the speed needed to "break free" from the gravitational attraction of a massive body, without further propulsion, i.e., without spending more fuel.

[Pete Svarrior]

Great point. Thork has again demonstrated his failure to understand the basics of flight. No spaceship need reach escape velocity to make it to space.

Surely you understand the basics of flight well enough to know that no vehicle could carry enough fuel to make it to space at 2200mph.

[Thork]

Interestingly earth's escape velocity is 25,000 mph. So they aren't making a spaceship. They are making an aircraft. It needs lift ... ergo air ... ergo not space.

Who said anything about escape velocity?

Great point. Thork has again demonstrated his failure to understand the basics of flight. No spaceship need reach escape velocity to make it to space.

You do to do something simple like a low earth orbit. You cannot remain in space without reaching these kinds of speeds. Of course orbit is impossible because earth is flat, so that's all very convenient.

I don't suppose you have any comment on the validity of their project rather than looking to pick holes in semantics?

[markjo]

I don't suppose you have any comment on the validity of their project rather than looking to pick holes in semantics?

I'd rather poke holes in your deliberate misrepresentation of the validity of their project.

[Thork]

I don't suppose you have any comment on the validity of their project rather than looking to pick holes in semantics?

I'd rather poke holes in your deliberate misrepresentation of the validity of their project.

Yes, that means you don't have to leave the site to bring anything new to the conversation.

[markjo]

I don't suppose you have any comment on the validity of their project rather than looking to pick holes in semantics?

I'd rather poke holes in your deliberate misrepresentation of the validity of their project.

Yes, that means you don't have to leave the site to bring anything new to the conversation.

Maybe you could answer my questions ans we could go from there.  In case you forgot:

I'm being generous because I doubt it will do mach 2.9 at sea level. But anyway.

Who said anything about Mach 2.9 at sea level? 

Interestingly earth's escape velocity is 25,000 mph. So they aren't making a spaceship. They are making an aircraft. It needs lift ... ergo air ... ergo not space.

Who said anything about escape velocity?

The x-15 achieved this back in the 60's. It was an aircraft. The whole thing is just a big con. They aren't trying to get people into space at all, let alone orbit.

Who said anything about orbit? 

The Kármán line is a joke on the public. 100km is the definition of space, but its not. Aircraft can fly there.

What aircraft fly at 100km? 

Seriously Thork, what's with all of the straw men?

[Thork]

Not one of those questions adds anything to the OP. Go get some sources, construct an argument and come back.

[markjo]

Not one of those questions adds anything to the OP. Go get some sources, construct an argument and come back.

Does this mean that no one is allowed question the relevance or veracity of your outlandish statements?

[Thork]

Not one of those questions adds anything to the OP. Go get some sources, construct an argument and come back.

Does this mean that no one is allowed question the relevance or veracity of your outlandish statements?

You can question all you want, but you'll get more out if you put more in.

[markjo]

Not one of those questions adds anything to the OP. Go get some sources, construct an argument and come back.

Does this mean that no one is allowed question the relevance or veracity of your outlandish statements?

You can question all you want, but you'll get more out if you put more in.

How did your irrelevant mentioning of escape velocity, orbit and Mach 2.29 at sea level add anything at all to the discussion when Lynx claimed none of that in your OP?

[Gulliver]

Great point. Thork has again demonstrated his failure to understand the basics of flight. No spaceship need reach escape velocity to make it to space.

Surely you understand the basics of flight well enough to know that no vehicle could carry enough fuel to make it to space at 2200mph.

Who said anything about reaching space at 2220 MPH? I know no such thing and have made no claim about fuel requirements. Indeed just assuming that the fuel must be carried by the ship is an example of a bad assumption.

My point, that should be obvious, is that no ship need reach escape velocity (Thork quoted the value from the sea level.) to travel to space. Thork has again demonstrated that he does not understand simple concepts of flight.

Thanks to markjo for the original post illuminating Thork's error and subsequent explanations.