The daVinci Project Team (Канада) - участник конкурса X Prize

Наряду с CompMechLab официальными спонсорами The daVinci Project Team являются  Ansys Inc., Sun Microsystems of Canada,  Autodesk, Waterloo Maple Inc , и другие.

	Sun Microsystems of Canada as an "Official Technology Products Partner" of the da Vinci Project, Sun is providing the Canadian team with a broad range of powerful hardware and network cluster tools for design simulation and virtual prototyping. Sun tools will power applications like FEA (Finite Element Analysis) and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), which are key processes in substantially reducing engineering costs and improving time-to-market for aerospace designers and engineers.
	Autodesk is the world's leading design software and digital content company, offering customers progressive business solutions through powerful technology products and services. The new Inventor 7.0 product underscores Autodesk’s strategy to help customers like the da Vinci project to solve critical business challenges by giving them the tools to innovate, increase productivity, optimize processes, and bring higher quality products to market faster for less cost.
	CFD Canada provides CFD research, consulting, training and software distribution services for industry and academia. CFD Canada, directed by Dr. Vladimir Kudriavtsev, is based out of offices in Toronto and Montreal.
	Ansys Inc., founded in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems Inc., develops and globally markets engineering simulation software and technologies widely used by engineers and designers across a broad spectrum of industries. The Company focuses on the development of open and flexible solutions that enable users to analyze designs directly on the desktop, providing a common platform for fast, efficient and cost-conscious product development, from design concept to final-stage testing and validation.
	CFD Research Corporation is very excited to be a part of the da Vinci Project. CFDRC has always been at the leading edge of simulation technology, making its tools very suitable for the da Vinci Project in its quest to fly humans into space.
	St. Petersburgh State Polytechnical University through its CompMechLab has been providing advance Finite Element Analysis capabilities to the project. The FEA performed by the CompMechLab is amongst the most demanding engineering requirements for the rockets design.
	The MathWorks, is the leading developer and supplier of technical computing software in the world. They produce technical computing software for engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and researchers. Their two core products are MATLAB®, used for performing mathematical calculations, analyzing and visualizing data, and writing new software programs; and Simulink®, used for modeling and simulating complex dynamic systems, such as a vehicle's automatic transmission system.
	COMSOL's FEMLAB. The COMSOL Group provides software solutions for multiphysics modeling. COMSOL's FEMLAB supplies highly sought-after new technology for the modeling and simulation of physics in all science and engineering fields. It is an interactive environment to model and simulate scientific and engineering problems based on partial differential equations (PDEs) - equations that are the basis for the laws of science, and fully integrates with MATLAB® and its toolboxes.
	Waterloo Maple Inc.  Waterloo Maple is a world leader in mathematical and analytical software. The Maple system embodies advanced technology such as symbolic computation, infinite precision numerics, and a powerful 4GL language for solving a wide range of mathematical problems encountered in modeling and simulation, and in technical education. Over a million users have adopted Waterloo Maple products as their preferred platform for exploring and managing complex problems in engineering, science, mathematics, and education. Waterloo Maple's customer base includes most major universities and research organizations in the world, leading enterprises such as Nortel, Raytheon, Boeing, and DaimlerChrysler.

 

О проекте da Vinci

The da Vinci Project, established in 1996, is a competitor in the International X Prize Competition and is in a quest for the first manned, non-government private/commercial space flight. The all-volunteer da Vinci project is the largest volunteer technology project in Canadian history with upwards of 100,000 man-hours having been spent on the project thus far. The Project's head office and operations are based in Toronto with regional teams located in Montreal, Regina and Vancouver and St Petersburg, Russia. The da Vinci Project has a long-term goal to expand the public interest in the field of manned space development especially among Canada's youth.

 

Sponsors of  the da Vinci Project are: Sun Microsystems of Canada,  Autodesk, Ansys Inc., Waterloo Maple Inc and so on.

(По материалам  http://www.davinciproject.com)  

 

 

The da Vinci Project will launch its spacecraft  (Wild Fire) from the world's largest helium balloon. The 3,270 kg (7,200 pound) rocket will be tethered 720 meters (2,400 feet) below the balloon and lifted over the course of an hour to an altitude of 80,000 feet. The 10,000 pound thrust, liquid oxygen, kerosene engines will fire the first stage and the rocket will fly an initial angular trajectory to clear the balloon. The spacecraft then will transition to vertical flight to its apogee of 120 km in space. The rocket will reach a maximum speed on both its ascent and re-entry of Mach 4, or 4,250 kph (2,650 mph). An innovative ballute will protect and stabilize the rocket on re-entry. A flyable parachute will be deployed at 25,000 feet and the rocket will descend under control, guided by GPS, to a predetermined landing zone.  

(По материалам http://www.xprize.org)

                                                                                                                                   

 

Canadian Brian Feeney, 44, is team leader of the Toronto-based da Vinci Project. In its simplest terms, the group wants to lift a spacecraft called Wild Fire using an immense helium balloon. The design switches over to rockets to fly and uses a steerable parachute to land.

Feeney plans to be on board for the first manned attempt. He said he thinks of the risk as similar to that of climbing Mount Everest, the world's tallest peak. "Life is way too short to not explore those boundaries," he said.

"How many times does a kid have a chance to go into space? I'm living my dream," he said. "I feel like I'm limited; my bicycle won't go as far as I want it to. My grandest dream goes all the way to the stars."

(По материалам http://www.cnn.com от 29 марта 2004 г.)

 

The da Vinci Project Team has officially changed its name to "The GoldenPalace.com Space Project: Powered by the da Vinci Project" in recognition of their new Title sponsor. The team's Wild Fire rocket is being prepared for its October 2 flight in pursuit of the ANSARI X PRIZE. The GoldenPalace.com Space Project team plans to launch the cylindrical Wild Fire rocket from a high-altitude balloon taking off from Sasketchewan, Canada. Team Leader Brian Feeney noted, "A two day comprehensive project management review took place the beginning of the week to identify every milestone and resource needed [to make the scheduled launch date]". As The New Race to Space enters the home stretch, Toronto-based Team will perform tests of key spacecraft systems. To test the ability of a high-altitude balloon to launch the Wild Fire rocket, a scaled version of the balloon will carry a 400 lb payload to 50,000 feet in September, according to Feeney. As for the engines that will carry Wild Fire to space, ground test firings are scheduled to start August 31st and run throughout September.

(По материалам http://www.xprize.org от 17 августа 2004 г.)