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New Pictures of White Knight Two and SpaceshipTwo

Posted by timothy on from the what-they-look-like dept.

soldeed writes "Over at the Virgin Galactic press site, there are new pictures of both White Knight Two and SpaceShip 2 during construction for media use. After seeing them, I can't help but wonder; Gee, what's in the box?"

7 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Same old... by B5_geek · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As long as we depend on cigars with wings and chemical based propellants we will only inch our way along this journey. I had higher hopes for this crew.

    --
    "The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
    1. Re:Same old... by Free+the+Cowards · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Such as what? The technology simply isn't there for anything else, especially not for the miniscule budget these guys have.

      --
      If you mod me Overrated, you are admitting that you have no penis.
    2. Re:Same old... by Rocketman_Ryan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As long as we depend on cigars with wings and chemical based propellants we will only inch our way along this journey. I had higher hopes for this crew.

      You know, this is precisely the reason there are so few private companies doing this. People expect miracles, and when the miracles don't happen the public loses interest.

      Yes, we need to invest more heavily in advanced propulsion concepts. However, we don't currently have any private manned platforms based on *conventional* propulsion, so how could you possibly expect this? You could never raise enough venture capital to do anything other than conventional craft, because the risks are huge enough as-is. That will hopefully change in the future, but people need to prove that this is even feasible first. The Virgin Galactic team is going a long way to demonstrating this, and they should be commended for it. And this is all you have to say? Seriously?

      I shouldn't drink and post; it makes me care too much :D

  2. A little messy. by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've been lucky enough to see Military aircraft being put together, space ships, and big commercial craft.
    By comparison, that place looks like a freaking disaster area.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:A little messy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You've no doubt seen metal production aircraft and over-paperworked metal and unobtanium space ships being assembled. White Knight Two and SpaceShip Two are both pre-production prototypes being built from composites, with totally different materials and techniques. You don't need a billion parts and fasteners, nor the cataloging system to track them when you build with composites. Also, trimming and fitting composites tends to be a messy business, when compared to punched and finished metal bits that only need to be riveted together. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

      -- Len

  3. Re:Seriously - the box by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just a reminder about context: You're being snarky to somebody who made a joke because they didn't recognize something was part of a technique used in composite construction.

    He needs to get out more? Really?

  4. Re:Death Tube by putaro · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, given that Scaled Composites is one of the most experience builders of aircraft with composite materials I would expect that they know what they're doing.

    It is kind of fun that it looks like they're building a spaceship in a big garage. Factories are not always what you think they will be. I used to work for a company that built mini-supercomputers. Our factory was surprisingly modest. I used to love that we would make the official stickers (you know, don't stick your fingers in here or you'll get electrocuted) with the laser printer and cut them out with scissors.