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U.S. Okays Virgin Galactic Plans
Aron writes "Space.com reports that the U.S. Department of State's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has approved collaboration of technical details between Scaled Composites of Mojave, California and Virgin Galactic of the United Kingdom to build passenger-carrying suborbital spaceliners. The next suborbital ship will be a nine person vessel." From the article: "Details about the new company were unveiled at the Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA) AirVenture air show held July 25-31 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
The Spaceship Company will build a fleet of commercial suborbital spaceships and launch aircraft. Scaled Composites is to be under contract for research and development testing, as well as certification of a 9-person SpaceShipTwo (SS2) design, and a White Knight Two (WK2) mothership to be called Eve."
...finally, News for Nerds!
Oh yeah baby, I'm going next!
Does anyone have any details on how it will be launched?
Can we start proposing passengers for the first flight yet?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
...it's pretty clear our galaxy is lying about being a virgin.
that's awesome.
Before we hear about the blabbering crap that this is going to spell the death knell for NASA, please do remember these "spaceships" are only able to go a fraction up into space that shuttles do and even a smaller amount of payload. All you yapping around how commercial spacecraft are just around the corner (not this sightseeing stuff) really need to understand scales of economy.
From TFA: ... ?We are already in discussion with a number of states in the United States,? Whitehorn said
The location to produce the fleet of rocket planes is very likely to be Mojave, California. ?That?s where we expect to be in production,? Whitehorn said, although the takeoff site of Virgin Galactic?s public space trips is a different matter.
When they say "a number of states", I think the number is close to 1. Texas has laws on the books establishing "Spaceport Development Corporations" with the authority to levy taxes, and the three locations that have established these SDCs all have big advantages over anyplace else in the US:
* One is in the middle of nowhere, for early testing (which might include Things Blowing Up).
* One is an hour away from Houston, for when suborbital and orbital commercial flights become routine.
* One is not-too-far away and offers launching above water, for flights after "experimental" but before "routine".
For further reference, this Houston Chronicle article name-drops about everyone remotely involved in a private space project, from Amazon's Jeff Bezos to Carmack to Armadillo/Id Guy John Carmack.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
how much? (so i know how many of my organs i am going to have to sell to see space)
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
Since Virgin Galactic isn't a US company, the Department of Defense has a say in whether Scaled Composites can send them certain technological information, under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (the same rules that make those crypto t-shirts "munitions").
It's not surprising that they passed, since VG is a British company, and the Brits are the good guys. Presumably some guarantees have been made that this isn't going to turn into plans for cruise missiles for Iranians.
So they haven't been given the go-ahead to fly, just to begin collaboration. They still have to come up with the actual spacecraft, and then there's a whole new set of approvals before they can fly the things.
I believe that getting private companies in the space race will be beneficial in the end. It's better if you have many people experimenting on something than just having one person. It just remains to see what will happen.
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
So, who is going to be the first member of the sixty mile high club?
Like arts? Like cheesy little Indie mags? Check out www.artwerkmag.com, and don't laugh at the bad coding please.
and a White Knight Two (WK2) mothership to be called Eve."
Will there be regular flights to catch interplanetary funk on this mothership?
With a proposed cabin the diameter of a Gulfstream V (about 6ft in height and 7ft in width), I fear they will design this thing for 3-across seating with 3 rows of passengers.
Otherwise, I call shotgun! If they do 5 rows of 2 seats, I want the seat next to the pilot.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
(And make sure as hell that CowboyNeal is wearing a tinfoil hat up there, cause if he doesn't, the space rays will turn him into a child-eating monster -- just like it happened to Andrei Chikatilo, the Russian cosmonaut)
Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
Is to actually go some place. Fly from NY to Paris in a matter of and hour. Not just to go up, OOOOO, AAAAAA, the stars, weightlessness, then come back down to the place I just left. I want to actually travel if I end up going into space.
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Oh, and, also, you said the V word on a geek website, teehee :P
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
Since I lost a bet on Discovery, I can't wait for more manned space flight.
I'll bet the screening process is about a thousand times worse than regular planes.
"And on the right, you will see foam flying off."
Dance Dance Revolution.
we've been building tubes to carry people up to high altitudes for years, have rail connections, and a high number of people who understand British humor and can spell colour and centre correctly.
Think of Boeing, the Space Needle, and some award winning billionaires who already sent rockets to space.
And we don't mind travelling to British possessions for the space launch either, as we have tons (metric) of people who go to the UK frequently.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Rules out MOST /. geeks by definition.
I want to go on the trip, yet I'm a poor 14 year old boy in Kentucky.
Mojave is where they did all the R&D. Mojave is a spaceport already. It would make sense to open up shop there. There are other spaceports already in existance - Oklahoma spaceport has been in existance for six years now.
Burt Rutan gave a speech at an AIAA conference and one prototype trajectory he gave showed launching over the Pacific ocean and landing in Mojave. Lots of pretty scenery (ocean and desert) lots of good abort options, and you wind up where the hangar is.
-everphilski-
Just beginning to sort out the company; just starting RE&D; the marketing types come up with a target year; idiots with too much money to spend start making deposits; now, they can really start development along with the inevitable schedule slippage...
We'll all be dead before we get a chance to go!
Think of it, we have one company now that will soon be selling rides on a sub-orbital craft. How long will it be before a competitor steps up and offers LEO rides?
If Virgin Galactic makes money at this, you know others will enter the business. I hope this turns into something really cool... and hopefully something I can afford!
Why is the URL for Virgin Galactic bounced through Google? It seems that a submitter using Slashdot to get advertising referrals should have been caught by the editors.
I'm on to their little game.
Does anyone have any details on how it will be launched?
...
...
either that or using a rail gun
or we could go back to the future and use hot air balloons (or helium) to lift them to Near Orbital Altitutude and then launch them
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
Did you just lie?
Yes
Yes
I'm pretty sure they can scale up a sub-orbital craft without many major engineering issues... but what i would like to know is their plans-goals for their "Orbital" craft. Thats when the fun begins. !!! Just waiting... for my one way trip !!!
*--- Sometimes a majority only means that all the fools are on the same side. ---*
Your failure is of epic proportions.
How long until we can have ballistic 45 minute rides from Los Angeles to Tokyo?
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
the closer to the equator you are, the less energy you need to expend to get into space as you can use the earth's rotational velocity to propel you up there. So you have less fuel or more cargo. Some commercial launches take this to its extreme and launch off converted oil platforms in the ocean, which are towed to the equator by tugboats.
Of course, there are other considerations. Nasa uses cape canaveral because not only is it very far south, its surrounded by water on 3 sides meaning launch mishaps are less likely to damage anything. And the water location means barges can deliver components too big for truck or rail to deliver, like booster engines and fuel tanks.
The weather is also a factor. Mojave is popular because the weather there is pretty boring and its sparse land.
-
Well, it's got an airfield with a long enough runway to land most large jets (I've seen 747's, C5's, and the big Russian cargo jets there(*)). Even the Concord was able to land/take off there. The airport isn't that busy so it can basically be dedicated to just the airshow the entire week.
:)
.
Besides, given that it's a fly-in, I suspect that part of the appeal to the pilots is that they get to fly someplace to go to it
A complete history can be found here
(*) I grew up in Ripon, WI under the approach route. Having a C5 suddenly go over your house in a location where the largest plane normally going over is a crop duster is quite an experience....
Go Badgers! -- #include "std/disclaimer.h"
/me expected galactic virgins :/
Suborbital space ships, the pinnacle so far of this company, who have the gall to call themselves "galactic". Ha!
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
How to get approved for opeartion by the [[neocon]] administration:
* Put the word Virgin in your company name.
* Have a space vehicle for people (Nasa's shuttle going nowhere helps)
* Don't ask for money from Congress.
* Be one of the good guys (brits)
What? Wikicode doesn't work on slashdot?
"Piter, too, is dead."
Well, the plans begin with "new engines of a completely different types and far greater complexity", continues on to "new fuel tanks of completely different types", which causes the "completely new body" requirements, and it goes from there.
The ISP is too low and the mass too high to scale up anywhere close to orbital. They're going to have to start over if they actually want to go orbital, and take on a far, far more expensive and difficult challenge.
Kneel Before Christ!
ill bet passengers still have to fit their carry-on into that little square...cause you know even for $200,000 per ticket, they will still lose your baggage.
Don't ya hate it when the correct spelling of your favorite screen name is taken?
Sir Richard Branson has a blog!!
$190,000 for a ticket on Virgin Galactic !
music lover since 1969
A White Knight called Eve??? Even Monty Python would not sink that low...
Oh well, what the hell...
FedEx is global, dude. You can FedEx anything from anywhere to anywhere else.
..
What I think you mean to say is, go somewhere, but also make it a return trip. If I could have 45 minutes of weightlessness in between flying from Europe to Oceania, and again on the flipside, I'd probably be buying tickets to do so every 2 or 3 months or so
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Great, now Al-Qaeda has something new to fight for.
You forgot the real biggie, "figure out how to design a reusable space plane that can withstand the heat of reentry and which is light enough to launch cheaply", compared to that the new engine is childs play, remember that as cool as Rutan's stunt was it only worked because the plane did not get high enough for reentry to be a big deal.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Geeks in Space? No. Virgins in space.
Oh, wait...
Decades ago I worked for Logisticon (in Mountain View iirc). I walked in one morning at 11am (usual starting time) and a moment later I heard someone over the PA system say "There is no cause for alarm.". Just that. (I loved that company). Walked back outside (who wouldn't, after a confidence-inspiring message like that?) to see a B-52 aimed directly at me. After the moment I needed to say "Hey, that's a B-52 isn't it?" it opened it's bomb bay doors.
A few dozen fly-bys like that and I discovered the Moffat NAS / Nasa AAMES airshow was going on next door. Fly-ins are a genuine hoot, and should be encouraged.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
... it'd be kinda lame to go up in space and have some fatty blocking your view.
I'm betting that we will have terrorists booking flights on Virgin.
72 flights to be exact... ZING
I just found the box to change my sig. Um.... [timeless witticism].
That's not his blog... it's a blog *about* branson.
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.htm
Well it's not like I have the money anyway but I kept wondering if the passengers are allowed to bring bananas and m&m's. I've always wanted to do that. Suck a glob of H2O in zero G. Oh man that's so phallic!
How could this be? No Star Trek jokes yet!
Sequence approx:
/. sequence, ALL steps result in profit.)
- suborbital tourism
- suborbital ballistic courier
- suborbital ballistic passenger airline
- orbital cargo
- orbital passenger ferry
- anywhere else
(Unlike the typical
The muslims are the ones with the bombs.
Blar.
I mean, after several HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS of people have ridden it, doesn't it cease to be called "Virgin"?
Or is it like that whole white-wedding-dress thing?
-Styopa
Companys have been formed to massproduce the carbon fibres necessary to build the space elevator cables. http://www.liftport.com/nanotech.php
Granted this guy I quote below is a promoter of his own cause, looking for funds - but I like to think his guesstimate of the timescale isn't too far off. Anyone (who knows anything) think he's wrong?
"Edwards told SPACE.com that he's been wrapped up in space elevator work for some three years, supported by grants from NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. "I'm convinced that the space elevator is practical and doable. In 12 years, we could be launching tons of payload every three days, at just a little over a couple hundred dollars a pound," he said."http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/tech nology/space_elevator_020327-1.html