马斯克更早的商业航天先驱为何化身先烈? 奇葩航天4
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1WhzCBbEMy/?spm_id_from=333.1387.homepage.video_card.clickbillgate 泰利迪斯星座衛星Teledesic
=>
https://familystar.org.tw/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=45&topic=41235.0 安德魯比爾 比爾航天 Beal Aerospace
1997年:創立Beal Aerospace,目標是打造完全由私人資金支持的大型運載火箭,以降低衛星發射成本。公司曾擁有約200名員工,在美國德州建立火箭發動機測試基地,並規劃建造約200英尺(約61公尺)高的BA-2重型運載火箭。2000年3月4日,成功點火測試BA-810液體火箭發動機。當時這是自Apollo program的Saturn V以來,美國測試過最大的液體火箭發動機之一。2000年10月,Beal Aerospace宣布停止營運。Andrew Beal表示,由於NASA推動政府資助的新型運載火箭計畫,私人公司難以與政府補助競爭,因此結束公司營運。公司關閉後,其位於德州麥格雷戈的火箭測試設施後來被SpaceX收購,成為SpaceX的重要火箭測試基地。許多航天史研究者認為,Andrew Beal雖然未能成功將火箭送入太空,但他是私人航天的先驅之一。他的嘗試比Elon Musk創立SpaceX(2002年)還早幾年,也為後來商業航天的發展提供了經驗與借鑑。
http://www.astronautix.com/b/bealba-2.htmlhttps://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/ba2.htmBeal Aerospace's BA-2 was an example of the „Big Dumb Booster” concept. Consisting of three stages with pressure-fed engines (Kerosene and Hydrogen peroxide), it was to lift Ariane-5-class payloads to GTO. The BA-2 was to be 64.6 meters tall and 6.2 meters in diameter and will weight approximately 970 tons at liftoff.
The structural elements of the BA-2 were to be constructed from filament-wound graphite. The first two stages were to have one fixed engine each, with fluid injection providing thrust-vector control. The third stage was to have a engine with electromechanical gimbaling.
Launch site was to be Sombrero Island in the Caribic.
With declining market prospects, the project was cancelled, after tests of 2nd and 3rd stage engines (BA-810 and BA-44) were successfully conducted.