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U.S. Okays Virgin Galactic Plans

Posted by Zonk on from the everything-good-starts-in-wisconsin dept.

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."

8 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. First off... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:First off... by cmowire · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ah....

      But if you launch... say 500 lbs to space at $100/lb and compare that to 50,000 lbs to space at $10,000/lb.... that changes a lot of scales of econonomy as well. Likewise, SS2 is supposed to go up higher, therefore narrowing the gap to orbit.

      You don't need to do everything the shuttle does to revolutionize space travel. In fact, it's probably easier if you don't try to.

      --
      Gentoo Sucks
    2. Re:First off... by taustin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You don't need to do everything the shuttle does to revolutionize space travel. In fact, it's probably easier if you don't try to.

      You do, however, have to be able to achieve orbit, and return in one piece.

      Rutan's technology simply isn't capable of it. Not enough delta-vee. In other words, the fuel they use can't launch it's own weight in to orbit.

      Orbit takes about ten times as much energy per pound as the parabolic flight they did with SS1.

      Plus, they technology they used to build the air frame could not possibly withstand the heat or mechanical stress of reentry at orbital speeds. It'd disintegrate on impact with the upper atmosphere.

      They've got a long way to go for orbital capability.

    3. Re:First off... by webjonesin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You might want to consider what they accomplished...

      For a budget of about $20 million, they did three missions that approximately matched what Alan Shepard did. And...they got to keep the whole rocket.

      And you really need to understand the human spirit...NASA ain't going away, but neither are the dreamers.

  2. At last? by Poromenos1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.
  3. Re:dibs on the window seat or I call shotgun by Radak · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They've said all along that every seat will be a window seat. There's no way they could collect $200,000 per passenger and then stick people in the middle.

    I'm curious, though, how the seating layout is going to look. They're saying nine person craft, which means two crew and seven passengers. How exactly do you give seven passengers a window seat? Perhaps three rows of two and then a tapered tail where one lucky passenger gets windows on both sides?

  4. Re:dibs on the window seat or I call shotgun by Radak · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I'm thinking that the pilot's seat would probably be center to prevent any interference.

    Except that plans call for both a pilot and a copilot. I'm thinking more like:
     
    P-C
    O-O
    O-O
    O-O
    \O/
  5. I'm guessin' everyone gets an aisle seat? by db10 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... it'd be kinda lame to go up in space and have some fatty blocking your view.