More SpaceShipTwo Details

Posted by michael on Sunday January 2, 2005 @10:04PM from the flight-of-fancy dept.

Anonymous Coward from Manitoba writes "BBC news is reporting more details about Burt Rutan's proposed SpaceShipTwo. Apparently the new flyer will include five to eight passenger seats and have the 'same diameter crew cabin as a Gulfstream V business jet'. It will fly much higher than SpaceShip One - up to '135-140 km' that will permit an additional 90 seconds of microgravity. This will be important, since 'we want this roller coaster-type bar that you fold out of the way and you can float around'. They are also planning to 'have the option of landing in a different place from where they took off'. I can't wait until we can ride SpaceShipThree across the Atlantic in 20 minutes!"

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Impact on the ozone layer? by jlar · 2005-01-02 22:55 · Score: 5, Interesting

I think it is absolutely amazing that ordinary people will be able to experience space and zero gravity. But I also think that we need to look into the environmental aspects of this development.

If we will come to see daily flights of maybe hundreds of planes it might have a significant impact on the ozone layer and thus our health. It is therefore important to get an estimate of the impact on the ozone layer so that cleaner fuels and other measures can be taken to prevent this.

Here is a bit of background info on the ozone layer and the impact of the space shuttle and high flying aircraft and rockets on it:

http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink/summe r2 000/01.html

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/ozone-depletion/intro/