science

Scaled Composites

Scaled Composites is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Scaled Composites rather than just read about it. In short: Scaled Composites (often called simply Scaled) is an American aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman. It is located at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, United States.

Key takeaways

Scaled Composites belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Scaled Composites to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Scaled Composites from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Scaled Composites (often called simply Scaled) is an American aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman. It is located at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, United States. Founded to develop experimental aircraft, the company 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.

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. The acquisition by Northrop Grumman was completed on August 24, 2007. Rutan retired in April 2011. Ben Diachun, a long time employee, was president of Scaled from October 31, 2015, until April 2019. Cory Bird, another long-time employee, became president of Scaled in April 2019.

Early projects Before forming Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan had designed several aircraft for amateur builders, including the VariEze, often considered one of general aviation's most innovative designs. He also designed the Beechcraft Starship, which was a commercial failure. These aircraft were distinctive because of their canard configuration, winglets and pusher propellers. In 2005, the single-jet GlobalFlyer 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). It had been designed by Rutan, with aerodynamics by John Roncz, and built by Scaled Composites. as the Model 311. Although their role was not widely publicized, Rutan and Roncz, who had provided aerodynamics support to a number of previous Rutan projects including Starship, helped design, and Scaled Composites manufactured, the double slotted wing mast for the Stars & Stripes catamaran for Dennis Conner's entry in the 1988 America's Cup.

SpaceShipOne

The company announced 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 crewed 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 taken 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 crewed rocket flight. 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 uncrewed launch vehicles in its 20 years, but never a license for crewed 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.

Stratolaunch Carrier Aircraft

Scaled Composites Model 351 (nicknamed the "Roc") was built for Stratolaunch Systems to provide a platform from which air-launch space missions can be staged. In August 2015, Scaled Composites president Kevin Mickey stated the company had so far assembled "roughly 200,000 pounds of composite structure" for the vehicle and if put on a football field, "its wingtips would extend beyond the goalposts by 15 feet on each side." Each of the twin fuselages of the aircraft is 238 feet (73 m) long and is supported by 12 main landing gear wheels and two nose gear wheels. It requires 12,000 feet of runway to lift-off.

Rutan Aircraft Factory aircraft

Burt Rutan created Rutan Aircraft Factory to market a commercial variation of his Model "VariViggen" prototype" he began building in his garage in 1968 which he called The Model 32, also known as the VariViggen SP. This model utilized a slightly longer fuselage, larger span and winglets in order to increase efficiency. Within 8 years after its founding, this company became one of the world's important aircraft design and prototyping companies. The Rutan Aircraft Factory sold over 600 plan sets for the VariViggen to homebuilders, and eventually about 20 of the aircraft were built. Following the crash of one in New Brunswick, Canada, in September 2006 due to wing tank fuel contamination, fewer than five are currently still flying. The prototype aircraft, N27VV, was donated to the EAA AirVenture Museum in 1988.

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) NASA AD-1 (1979) Model 68 AMSOIL Racer (1981) Model 73 NGT: Three-fifths scale model of Fairchild T-46 trainer (1981) Model 72 Grizzly (1982) Model 76 Voyager: First aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth non-refueled, non-stop (1986) Model 77 Solitaire (1982) Model 81 Catbird (1988) five-seat single-engine aircraft Model 202 Boomerang: (1996) Asymmetric 5–seat aircraft Model 437 Vanguard: multi-mission military demonstration aircraft with both manned and unmanned capabilities

Scaled Composites aircraft

Other aircraft projects

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Scaled Composites: Rutan Aircraft's first – Model 32 VariViggen (1972) — Rutan Aircraft's first – Model 32 VariViggen (1972)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Scaled Composites

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Scaled Composites claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Scaled Composites before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Scaled Composites ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Scaled Composites

In research: Scaled Composites appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Scaled Composites in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Scaled Composites is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1982 establishments in California, 2007 mergers and acquisitions, American companies established in 1982, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Scaled Composites outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Scaled Composites in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Scaled Composites means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Scaled Composites out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Scaled Composites in simple terms?

Why does Scaled Composites matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Scaled Composites?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Scaled Composites.