Slashdot Mirror
Virgin Atlantic Licensing SpaceShipOne
Tigerquoll writes "According to the Australian Broadcasting Commission, British airline magnate Richard Branson has announced a plan for the world's first commercial space flights and has signed a technology licensing deal with Mojave Aerospace Ventures - the US company behind SpaceShipOne. See scaled composites' media release and the Virgin Galactic website"
I may never get onto the world's first commercial supersonic jet, now that it's been retired, but with an initial price of £115,000 I'll certainly hope that (after another 5 years or so, when the price has come down), I'll get into space. Cool. Really cool if it flies over my house :-))
I'd always regretted not doing the quick flight to NY from London (not that I could afford it!), even with tiny seats. I'm told it was just about possible to pop over the pond, do your xmas shopping in a different continent, and pop back the next day (same day was possible but left little time for shopping...) Let's just hope that the space-flights stimulate some competition, unlike Concorde, because then the next goal would quickly become 'lunar city'...
I think that 'Virgin Galactic' is hopelessly optimistic, though, given that it's sub-orbital. I'm guessing people won't really want the 'galactic' version, and a return ticket might be a bit superfluous...
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
The virgin galactic (which translates to Virgin Milky...) site gushes about the spiritual experience for rich tourists ("executive jets"..."dine with astronauts" yadda yadda) but the true opportunity for the foreseeable future will be IMHO in high speed intercontinental flight for those for whom it is really important. Let space tourism pave the way (like the rich did with the automobile) but let's not forget the ultimate goal. Then I can finally go to a conference in Australia without haveing to reserve two days for getting there!
----- One learns to itch where one can scratch.
Simple - have passengers sign a waver. Not responsible for death, injury, etc. etc. Done and done!
" If it is a success, we want to move into orbital flights and then, possibly, even get a hotel up there"
Am I a hopeless geek who needs therapy or does reading that quote from Branson bring a genuine tear of emotion to anyone else's eye?
That such a thing has taken one very real step closer to realisation in my lifetime is - quite literally - awesome.
That's quite a bit for a one-off publicity stunt,
`Could' is the important word here.
entirely aside from the 14 Million Pounds already invested.
Which 14 million?
So they haven't actually committed to 14 million. Indeed the press release doesn't say how much they have comitted to, so we can assume it is not very much -- or MAV would be crowing about it._O_
.|< The named which can be named is not the true named
err - can I mod myself down? I meant to be funny, not informative. Obviously, insurance will be an issue for a commercial enterprise like this.
Branson is a master of PR, and I wouldn't be remotely surprised if this venture gets quietly binned, once its provided its much needed channels to allow Branson time to plug his newly launched credit card
He's also a successful entrepreneur to the tune of billions, so I wouldn't write him off that quickly. He must be doing something right.
When he started an airline (Virgin Atlantic) people aired similar doubts. When British Airlines realised he was serious they threw every dirty trick in the book at him... but they got smacked down in the courts when Branson proved they were operating an effective monopoly (a situation close to slashdot readers' hearts).
Despite extensive industrial sabotage, Virgin launched the worlds prototype discount airline, which to date has been massively successful. Virgin Blue, the australian arm of the business, has captured a third of the domestic market from Qantas within a few years. All the while Virgin has dominated another form of air travel with Virgin Balloons. But I'm sure that was a ploy to sell plastic credit too.
Naive spin-master or visionary benefactor? I think Branson's record speaks for itself.
The site says that after your flight, you'll have a dinner where you'll be presented with your astronaut wings. I can see some resentment from the established astronaut/cosmonaut/taikonaut corps to this.
How much do you want to bet that the requirements for receiving your wings will be raised by 100km or so?
Chip H.