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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."
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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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-
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.
Yeah, as much as I would like to see this stuff happening in New Mexico, I think this space port plan that Richardson is putting forth is not going to succeed. While southern New Mexico has tons of empty space, which is great for the risk factor, it is in the middle of the middle of nowhere. There are several other places in the US that have big baren deserts or open oceans that are much nearer to large population centers. Places like south-east California, surrounding Houston, any coastal area (provided weather is not a concern).
Personally I think that Mojave is going to be the fist hub. A huge portion of your target market is right there is Southern California. Scaled already has relationships with all the regulatory people that could help or hurt them. They will probably expand to multiple sites after things get off the ground, but it just makes sense to start right where they are.
Regardless, unless other states really drag their feet, or are completely inflexable regarding taxes, I don't think NM has much of a chance of becoming a staging ground for commercial space flight.
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. ---*
How long until we can have ballistic 45 minute rides from Los Angeles to Tokyo?
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
Here for example : http://ast.faa.gov/linfo_vsite/maps/detail.cfm?Fac _ID=58>Moses Lake Spaceport
Actually the Shuttle's SRB's are sized to fit on rails, and there's an interesting tale relating that back to ancient times:
American railroad tracks are 56.5" wide (the "gauge") because the English built the first railroads in America and they use that width. Why do they use that width? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that were used for building wagons which used that wheel spacing.
Why did wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Because older wagon ruts throughout England used that spacing, and if they changed it, wagon wheels would break falling into or being forced out of the old ruts, which were 56.5" wide.
The old ruts were that size because the roads were built by the Romans, who arrived in England in 54 BC and left about 400 AD. Their wagons, and their chariots before their wagons, used that spacing, and that spacing was used all over Europe and wherever Rome conquered, because their wagons used the identical wheel base everywhere. So the modern railroad track width derives from the Roman chariot.
Why was the Roman chariot track width 56.5"? Because that was the width of a chariot that would equal the width of two "standard" Roman horses. Specifications and bureaucracies live forever!
Such curious dimensions continue today. A space shuttle sitting on its launch pad has two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs, made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs might have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory had to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is just wide enough to accomodate a railroad car, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horses' behinds, (and we now know why) so the booster rockets were made to fit.
The major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined by the width of a horse's ass, and the political necessity of building different components in different states (the third ass in the tale being the boobs in Washington).
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
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
And afternoon thunderstorms pretty much everyday for a good part of the year.
:~) Stepped off a plane in early august and about passed out. And heat is a big deal for gliders.
:~).
;~)
I admit I am highly biased against Houston
And regarding working with an existing space port, there is no way in hell Rutan would do it. I just can't see it happening. Why? Because he doesn't build anything that NEEDS that kind of infrastructure. So a good chunk of his space rent would be paying for things that he wouldn't use.
Anyway, I also admit I've no better ideas. Personally, I'd bet a dollar that they will open a couple of sites. What would rock is if they offered flights between them
Hm. Interesting thought. I'll bet two dollars that within 10 years after starting up tourist flights they will offer direct flights to/from Europe. Could be simple hope, to be honest
Cheers,