Virgin Galactic Shows the Finished WhiteKnight Two

Klaus Schmidt writes "Virgin Galactic today unveiled their WhiteKnight Two mothership, called 'EVE.' It is designed to carry the smaller SpaceShip Two into space. The rollout represents another major milestone in Virgin Galactic's quest to launch the world's first private, environmentally benign, space access system for people, payload and science. Christened 'EVE' in honor of Richard Branson's mother — Sir Richard performed the official naming ceremony — WK2 is both visually remarkable and represents ground-breaking aerospace technology. It is the world's largest all carbon composite aircraft and many of its component parts have been built using composite materials for the very first time. At 140 ft, the wing span is the longest single carbon composite aviation component ever manufactured."

Comments

Impressive

[Calathea]

Well it certainly looks the part, you do wonder what these privateers could come up with given the budgets NASA work with.

Re:Impressive

[michrech]

Probably the same stuff NASA does. I personally believe budgets *should* be kept small, even if artificially. This *forces* innovation. If they knew they had whatever amount of money they desired, I don't think the science would advance as far, or as fast.

In short, I think it's the lack of resources that forces people to come up with workable solutions to whatever problems they face with what resources they have at hand.

Re:Impressive

[DerekLyons]

The problem is, with tens of millions of dollars in the budget this project isn't lacking resources by any reasonable interpretation of the words. Further, comparing them with NASA is a bit misleading as the White Knight/SpaceShip Two craft operates in what is a fairly benign environment compared to what would be encountered by an orbital craft.

Re:Impressive

[ThreeE]

Don't forget that taxpayers funded a lot of the research a development that these people are taking advantage of.

There. Fixed that for you.

Re:Impressive

[profplump]

Thousands of people fly every day, miles above the Earth, propelled by a controlled explosion In a machine with a whole lot of moving parts supplied by the lowest bidder. Most people in that situation get a $5, single-strap safety restraint. Even the pilots and crew don't get an $800 restraint system.

I'm not saying space travel is easy, but in real life there's usually some reasonable compromise between "the most safety we can provide at any cost" and "the most safety we can provide at a reasonable cost, considering the inherent risk of this situation". But it doesn't surprise me that you've lost sight of that -- many people have these days.

Re:Impressive

[element-o.p.]

...but after an engineering analysis...

What do you think makes the seat belts so expensive?

Re:Impressive

[RJBeery]

Hence all of the amazing, life-improving innovation coming out of Uganda, for example...snark

slashdotted before first comment!

[Corf]

is this some sort of record?!

Re:slashdotted before first comment!

[demachina]

A couple of the pictures are on the Scaled composite web site.

Re:slashdotted before first comment!

[TappedOut]

More, high-res pictures here http://www.virgingalactic.com/pressftp/

Cool, but...

[WindBourne]

1. When does the next SpaceX Falcon fly?
2. When will Rutan pursue a true LEO space vehicle?

We can use all of these.

Re:Cool, but...

[Cormacus]

Well, just think of all of the structural engineering problems with producing a true LEGO space vehicle.

Do we really need modularization on that level?

Re:Cool, but...

[savuporo]

SpaceX Falcon launch is tenatively scheduled for this and next week with launch window closing on august 9th, some are saying its further delayed until end of August already. most up to date news here prolly

Re:*Yawn*

[Free the Cowards]

What is SpaceShipTwo if not a custom airplane?

Re:Brace for EVE Online jokes

[192939495969798999]

But wait, I wanted to make the "where's the adorable trash-collecting robot to be its boyfriend" jokes!

Eve?

[Yvan256]

No thanks, I'll wait for the Wall-E model.

I like the competition's product

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you seen Wayne Tech's new Dark Knight? Really impressive.

Mothership... EVE?

[Silverlancer]

Better make sure they have sufficient dreadnought and battleship support with that thing, or it might get ganked.

Article text

[RingDev]

The text came up fine for me, even most of the images were available after a few refreshes. TFA as follows:

(Virgin Galactic) - WhiteKnightTwo launch vehicle for SpaceShipTwo heralds a new era in aerospace fuel efficiency, performance and versatility

http://www.virgingalactic.com/pressftp/content/Presspacks/VMSeveBransonRutan_thumb.jpg

Mojave Air and Spaceport, California

Virgin Founder, Sir Richard Branson and SpaceShipOne designer, Burt Rutan, today pulled back the hangar doors on the new WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft that will ferry SpaceShipTwo and thousands of private astronauts, science packages and payload on the first stage of the Virgin Galactic sub-orbital space experience.

http://www.virgingalactic.com/pressftp/content/Presspacks/VMS%20Eve%20tow_thumb.jpg

The rollout represents another major milestone in Virgin Galactic's quest to launch the world's first private, environmentally benign, space access system for people, payload and science.

http://www.virgingalactic.com/pressftp/content/Presspacks/In%20Air%20Banking_thumb.jpg

Christened "EVE" in honor of Sir Richard's mother, who performed the official naming ceremony, WK2 is both visually remarkable and represents ground-breaking aerospace technology. It is the world's largest all carbon composite aircraft and many of its component parts have been built using composite materials for the very first time. At 140 ft, the wing spar is the longest single carbon composite aviation component ever manufactured.

http://www.virgingalactic.com/pressftp/content/Presspacks/VMS%20Eve%20rollout_thumb.jpg

Driven by a demanding performance specification set by Virgin Galactic, WK2 has a unique heavy lift, high altitude capability and an open architecture driven design which provides for maximum versatility in the weight, mass and volume of its payload potential. It has the power, strength and maneuverability to provide for pre space-flight, positive G force and zero G astronaut training as well as a lift capability which is over 30% greater than that represented by a fully crewed SpaceShipTwo. The vehicle has a maximum altitude over 50,000 ft and its U.S. coast-to-coast range will allow the spaceship to be ferried on long duration flights.

http://www.virgingalactic.com/pressftp/content/Presspacks/VMS%20Eve%20bow_thumb.jpg

An all carbon composite vehicle of this size represents a giant leap for a material technology that has already been identified as a key contributor to the increasingly urgent requirement by the commercial aviation sector for dramatically more fuel efficient aircraft. Powered by four Pratt and Whitney PW308A engines, which are amongst the most powerful, economic and efficient available, WK2 is a mold breaker in carbon efficiency and the epitome of 21st century aerospace design and technology.

The twin fuselage and central payload area configuration allow for easy access to WK2 and to the spaceship for passengers and crew; the design also aids operational efficiencies and turnaround times. WK2 will be able to support up to four daily space flights, is able to carry out both day and night time operations and is equipped with a package of highly advanced avionics.

http://www.virgingalactic.com/pressftp/content/Presspacks/Galactic%20Girl_thumb.jpg

Large numbers of VIP's, media and more than 100 fully signed-up future Virgin Galactic astronauts flew into Mo

Re:Article text

[nasor]

I think the most interesting thing about this whole enterprise is that there are over 200 people who have already put down $20k deposits for tickets, with a final ticket price of $200k each - for a ride on in a vehicle of dubious safety (compared to a modern airline, anyway) that hasn't even been built yet! This seems to indicate that there is vast money to be made in the space tourism industry. Just imagine how many people will likely want to do it once it has an established safety record. And this is merely suborbital - presumably people would be willing to pay much much more for an orbital ride, if anyone ever gets around to building a low-cost, reusable orbital vehicle. I don't know how much all this cost to develop, but I wouldn't be surprised suspect that the pre-sold tickets have probably already more than paid for it.

Re:Article text

[wizbit]

Remember that commercial aviation in its infancy was also prohibitively expensive for the average consumer and many people initially bought tickets solely for the thrill of riding in an aircraft. These "thrill" flights would usually depart and land at the same airport, a thought that is somewhat puzzling to all of us who rely on its completely pedestrian, utilitarian use today. Cost, needless to say, bottomed out, especially after deregulation.

That said, the commercial uses of present-day aviation are obvious. Space travel, especially LEO, strikes me as something that still needs a killer niche to succeed over the long-haul. And remember Concorde, which for many reasons (not the least of which was the rather high-profile crash, and which was even more susceptible to the post-9/11 drop-off in commercial aviation use) ultimately collapsed.

Passenger aviation is notoriously boom-bust. Eastern Airlines, TWA, the list of companies with obviously sustainable business models that collapsed anyway is a mile long.

Who knows what commercial application someone with a launch system like VG's could come up with? I hope we have another Boeing in the works, but I agree that as things currently stand, it's got a much greater chance of becoming another Concorde.

Re:Article text

[Fweeky]

Knowing how Virgin Media handles billing and service, 20 of those can look forward to not being charged, another 50 can look forward to being charged $300k, and 80% of them will spend 3 hours on the phone either on hold, or with John, an Indian who speaks about 12 words of English (none of which include "supervisor").

Also, about 10% of them will be considered too fat to go all the way into suborbit, and will instead find their $200k going towards a short Cessna flight.

Re:Pretty impressive

[CRCulver]

Efforts such as these give the impression the advances in spaceflight will gravitate towards commercial companies catering to consumers

In his novel Firestar , the first volume of a future history attempting to be a realistic vision of the rise of human spaceflight, Michael Flynn had FedEx as one a major sponsor of private launches. Being able to deliver a package anywhere on Earth in 90 minutes, Flynn thought, would be an incredible advantage to a courier firm. With the rise of the Internet, however, there are ever fewer physical packages to be transported, and maybe no company would be willing to pay thousands extra for just a few hours less of delivery time. Now, except for space tourism, I'm hard-pressed to find any commercial use for mere orbital flights (as opposed to getting out there and mining).

"environmentally benign"? WHY?

[plasmacutter]

I will never understand this insistence that everything be "environmentally benign".

The philosophy should be "progressive mitigation" of environmental impact rather than the insistence that everything we do have no impact what soever.

Think long-term. The priority should be cheaper first, environmentally friendly second or even third in this type of project, because, in the long term, the faster we get viable colonies off this rock, the less impact we'll have as a species on our home planet.

Re:"environmentally benign"? WHY?

[KGIII]

I don't think the other planets really want us either. I can envision there being life on Mars but just hiding every time we go there kind of like not answering the door when the annoying neighbor knocks on it.

Re:"environmentally benign"? WHY?

[Richard_at_work]

Problem is, if 'cheaper' is your first goal, then your second goal which costs money for no operational benefit simply won't get started on.

Did their webserver get launched into space?

[pulse2600]

Because I certainly can't get to it from Earth....

Impressive record . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

From the silhouettes, I see that WK2 has already shot down a Wright Flier, Bell X-1, and Boeing 747, and NASA Lunar Lander.

Re:Brace for EVE Online jokes

[Yvanhoe]

Yeah, my first thought was "How many turrets can you fit into that ship ?".
Then "Is there a Gallente version of this ?"

Re:*Yawn*

[LWATCDR]

Isn't my car a suborbital vehicle?
What about a piper cub?
And every model rocket?

Non-slashdotted article

[martinmarv]

Flight article about the same thing

Re:"environmentally benign"? WHY NOT?

[plasmacutter]

Don't try to paint my post as some kind of invitation to go all gilded age and turn the entire planet's atmosphere into Beijing's.

In the past 15 years or so the opposite extreme has been creeping in and is now hindering our capacity to ween ourselves off imported oil.

Now every proposed solution must not only be "cleaner" than the technology it replaces, it must be completely and utterly non-polluting

Let's take the greenhouse issue with coal power plants in the US. Nuclear removes the atmospheric and climate issues, and replaces them with a much smaller scale radioactivity issue for which we already have numerous viable reprocessing protocols, but no.. it still pollutes a little! omg we must stifle this!

Wing Sparring

[kiehlster]

At 140 ft, the wing spar is the longest single carbon composite aviation component ever manufactured.

Wing sparring? At 140ft!? Dude, where do I sign up for this? "If you're gonna fight, take it up 140ft in the air, but there will be no fighting on my property."

Re:Pretty impressive

[jollyreaper]

To pay for a rocket, it would have to be a very rare material. Like plutonium - of course, we already have rockets ready to deliver those in 90 minutes or less!

Or the next one's free?