Bloodhound LSR Thread As Requested...
Discussion
IN51GHT said:
GreatGranny said:
Is that just to transport the whole team over there?
Yep.Assuming Jet-A1 (which is about 71p/litre at the moment UK price), that's about 1,300,000 litres for your million quid. Sounds like lots, yes?
Well, no:
Jet A1 is about 0.81kg/l at room temperature, so 1.3 million litres is about 1053000kg (1053 tonnes) of fuel.
I'm going to assume a large plane is needed. Lets start with a huge one.
The An-225 has a capacity of 300,000kg (300 tonnes) of fuel, with which it can travel approximately 4000km at maximum weight (for reference - it can fly about 9000km with no cargo).
Assuming the whole project is going one-way in a single plane, and that plane is the An-225, it'll have to stop stop at least once (but more likely twice) en route from the UK to South Africa. I modelled this on LHR->JNB, which is 9100km.
I'd imagine the operator wants the plane back in Europe/Russia/wherever it's needed next once it's delivered Bloodhound to South Africa, so don't forget about the potentially empty plane flying to its next job.
It's not hard to see where the fuel budget goes, even if the operator were to lend the plane and crew for free.
Jet-A1 is likely to be more expensive at the stopoffs than it is here in the UK too, so all the numbers are a bit fuzzy.
CraigyMc said:
IN51GHT said:
GreatGranny said:
Is that just to transport the whole team over there?
Yep.Assuming Jet-A1 (which is about 71p/litre at the moment UK price), that's about 1,300,000 litres for your million quid. Sounds like lots, yes?
Well, no:
Jet A1 is about 0.81kg/l at room temperature, so 1.3 million litres is about 1053000kg (1053 tonnes) of fuel.
I'm going to assume a large plane is needed. Lets start with a huge one.
The An-225 has a capacity of 300,000kg (300 tonnes) of fuel, with which it can travel approximately 4000km at maximum weight (for reference - it can fly about 9000km with no cargo).
Assuming the whole project is going one-way in a single plane, and that plane is the An-225, it'll have to stop stop at least once (but more likely twice) en route from the UK to South Africa. I modelled this on LHR->JNB, which is 9100km.
I'd imagine the operator wants the plane back in Europe/Russia/wherever it's needed next once it's delivered Bloodhound to South Africa, so don't forget about the potentially empty plane flying to its next job.
It's not hard to see where the fuel budget goes, even if the operator were to lend the plane and crew for free.
Jet-A1 is likely to be more expensive at the stopoffs than it is here in the UK too, so all the numbers are a bit fuzzy.
cirian75 said:
Dave Hedgehog said:
IN51GHT said:
Well, it looks like it's time to officially announce a big new sponsor to the project......you could say the cat is out of the bag!!!
I've known about it for months, but it's been tough keeping quiet about it.
More details will be released at the LA motor show.
surprised redbull where not knocking at the door, sounds exactly their sort of thing 
I've known about it for months, but it's been tough keeping quiet about it.
More details will be released at the LA motor show.
Edited by IN51GHT on Thursday 6th November 07:32
IMHO - I prefer the project the way it is anyway. Richard Noble is the king of finding money for this stuff and doesn't need to sell the project's soul.
Sway said:
RobinBanks said:
How many stopoffs down through Africa could take An-225 on their runways, out of interest? Especially assuming it's at maximum cargo.
Probably quite a few - isn't it designed to land all sorts of runways in case of war? RobinBanks said:
How many stopoffs down through Africa could take An-225 on their runways, out of interest? Especially assuming it's at maximum cargo.
According to their published docs, it needs a 3500m runway. There are a surprisingly large number of those in Africa.Here's a list of some of the ones over 4000m:
Bole International Airport
Harare International Airport
N'djili Airport
Hwange National Park Airport
Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport
O.R. Tambo International Airport
Al Jufra Air Base
Ben Guerir Air Base
Berbera Airport
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
AFB Makhado
I don't know which they'd use. Possibly (not on the list above) Lagos, with a 3900m runway - modern, big, safe and roughly halfway. It's not massively off the direct route.
CraigyMc said:
According to their published docs, it needs a 3500m runway. There are a surprisingly large number of those in Africa.
Here's a list of some of the ones over 4000m:
I don't know which they'd use. Possibly (not on the list above) Lagos, with a 3900m runway - modern, big, safe and roughly halfway. It's not massively off the direct route.
Lagos sounds reasonable. Some of those are unsuitable though - you wouldn't stop at Tambo, Windhoek or Harare because you would nearly be there anyway! Possibly others too.Here's a list of some of the ones over 4000m:
Bole International Airport
Harare International Airport
N'djili Airport
Hwange National Park Airport
Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport
O.R. Tambo International Airport
Al Jufra Air Base
Ben Guerir Air Base
Berbera Airport
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
AFB Makhado
I don't know which they'd use. Possibly (not on the list above) Lagos, with a 3900m runway - modern, big, safe and roughly halfway. It's not massively off the direct route.
ETA: I suppose that I underestimated the amount of large runways in Africa. I suppose that with low population density, it's easy to find sites and some must have been built by colonial powers or to take 747s full of tourists.
Mave said:
Sway said:
Presumably at the end of the journey it can just land on the strip being used for the run...
What, the one the locals have spent ages clearing of debris? :-)RobinBanks said:
Lagos sounds reasonable. Some of those are unsuitable though - you wouldn't stop at Tambo, Windhoek or Harare because you would nearly be there anyway! Possibly others too.
ETA: I suppose that I underestimated the amount of large runways in Africa. I suppose that with low population density, it's easy to find sites and some must have been built by colonial powers or to take 747s full of tourists.
Yeah, that's just a list of paved runways over 4000m in Africa.ETA: I suppose that I underestimated the amount of large runways in Africa. I suppose that with low population density, it's easy to find sites and some must have been built by colonial powers or to take 747s full of tourists.
O.R. Tambo is Johannesburg by the way.
IN51GHT said:
Sway said:
Presumably at the end of the journey it can just land on the strip being used for the run...
Nope, Uppingtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upington_Airport
4900m runway. You could use it for low speed testing, if they'd let you
CraigyMc said:
RobinBanks said:
Lagos sounds reasonable. Some of those are unsuitable though - you wouldn't stop at Tambo, Windhoek or Harare because you would nearly be there anyway! Possibly others too.
ETA: I suppose that I underestimated the amount of large runways in Africa. I suppose that with low population density, it's easy to find sites and some must have been built by colonial powers or to take 747s full of tourists.
Yeah, that's just a list of paved runways over 4000m in Africa.ETA: I suppose that I underestimated the amount of large runways in Africa. I suppose that with low population density, it's easy to find sites and some must have been built by colonial powers or to take 747s full of tourists.
O.R. Tambo is Johannesburg by the way.
I must have been through there at least a dozen times over the years.
Anyway, the likelihood is that they aren't using An-225 anyway!
Sway said:
That's just boring. If Richard Noble had real balls he'd be pushed out of the ramp backwards, before igniting the rocket and doing a run under the Antonov...
Perhaps I've watched F&F6 too many times!
Or that Top Gear where a Hercules landed on a Welsh beach and deposited Hammond in an S Type RPerhaps I've watched F&F6 too many times!
IN51GHT said:
As long as jaguar are happy i guess it's good but that video is cringeworthy, checking that the propogation of radio waves hasn't changed since we last checked that it moved at the speed of light.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff