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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!
...it's pretty clear our galaxy is lying about being a virgin.
It will be lauched by the mothersip, White Knight II.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
The only thing more annoying than a Libertarian is an (un|mis)informed Libertarian
Does anyone have any details on how it will be launched?
1. Aim the pointy end at space.
2. Press the "Launch" button.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
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.
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.
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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"And on the right, you will see foam flying off."
Dance Dance Revolution.
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-
1. Aim the pointy end at space.
2. Press the "Launch" button.
3. Profit!!!
australian project gutenberg is better than the original.
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!
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?
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.
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. ---*
Specifically, from Article 4 of Virgin's Deposit Terms and Conditions:
Yep, they've got six months to give the money back, but they do guarantee they will.
Except that plans call for both a pilot and a copilot. I'm thinking more like:
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.
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Here for example : http://ast.faa.gov/linfo_vsite/maps/detail.cfm?Fac _ID=58>Moses Lake Spaceport
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"
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.
It looks like it's going to be a 9-person version of the same essential design as SpaceShipOne, launching from a mothership at altitude then using a rocket booster to above 360k feet. I would assume that they will use every trick they've learned so far with the previous craft in the new design.
I'd give very, very serious thoughts to trading both nuts to work in his shop.
c ontent=http%3A//www.spacex.com/careers.php
In case you were serious, both Scaled and Virgin Galactic are hiring, as are Blue Origin, Bigelow Aerospace, and SpaceX:
http://www.scaled.com/careers/
http://www.virgingalactic.com/jobs.asp
http://www.blueorigin.com/jobs.htm
http://www.spacex.com/index.html?section=careers&
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/employment.html
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.