Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Virgin Galactic Passengers May Just Miss Going into Space

Posted by samzenpus on from the close-but-no-cigar dept.

DavidGilbert99 (2607235) writes "According to the customer contract those signing up for a $240,000 flight on Virgin Galactic's spaceship the company will bring you 'at least 50 miles' above sea level. The problem is that the internationally accepted boundary for outer space is 62 miles above sea level — known as the Karman Line. Virgin is trying to get around the issue by claiming it is using a definition of space used by NASA — in the 1960s."

10 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Does it really matter? by Orestesx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Presumably they are looking to see the curvature of the earth and the stars set against a black background. If I saw that, I'd feel like I went to space, even if technically I did not.

    1. Re:Does it really matter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Dude, for the amount of money paid, I would sure want the whole 62 miles, as well as being serviced orally by an angel.

    2. Re:Does it really matter? by RockClimbingFool · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If all you want is to be weightless, the Vomit Comet is a much cheaper alternative for about $5,000.

      If you are paying the $245,000 premium, I would think they would want to get the official astronaut status of 62 miles.

    3. Re:Does it really matter? by CanHasDIY · · Score: 5, Funny

      You can be weightless for about $150/hr for plane and pilot. Granted it won't be in more than about 20 second incriments, but my kid and his friends love it: "Daddy make the plane do the weightless thing again" alternates with 'are we there yet".

      The looks you get when filing a parabolic flight plan must be priceless.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    4. Re:Does it really matter? by Moike · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The 62-mile internationally-accepted boundary is a completely arbitrary artifact of the metric system. It happens to be a nice, even 100 kilometers. There is nothing physically distinct about hitting 100 kilometers that makes it become "space". NASA previously defined it as 50 miles because they also wanted a nice even-sounding number and they were using imperial units to express it. I agree that if I got into a rocket, blasted off, saw the curvature of the earth and the blackness of space (and felt weightlessness for an appreciable period of time), I would say I have been to space, whether it meets the internationally-accepted definition or not.

    5. Re:Does it really matter? by Eevee · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Karman line is only arbitrary in so far as they picked a nice even number in the metric system which is pretty damn close to the point where winged flight isn't possible without being at orbital speed. If it had been originally defined in the US customary units, it still would have been in the area of 62 miles up.

  2. Well, that's.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Virgin is trying to get around the issue by claiming it is using a definition of space used by NASA — in the 1960s."

    Well, that's gay. Before you think I'm a homophobe, I'm using a definition used in the 1960s.

  3. Re:What a complete waste of time and money by neilo_1701D · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Back in the late '70s and early '80s, there were these expensive gimmicks called "personal computers". They didn't do much at all. Heck; some needed you to flip a whole bunch of switches before they could load a paper tape!

    Then there was this uber-expensing thing from some fruit company. Used a gadget called a "mouse", and you used the mouse to move boxes around on the screen. Cost $10,000 1983 dollars; back when the average income was just under $21,000.

    --

    Just because something is gimmicky today doesn't mean it won't become useful tomorrow. It does advance us, in terms of building an infrastructure that allows these flights to happen at all, in terms of learning to build space-rated hardware within a commercial cost basis. Then the price comes down, the $/lb comes down (over time) and we have a civilian launch system.

  4. Re:What a complete waste of time and money by NotDrWho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just because something is gimmicky today doesn't mean it won't become useful tomorrow.

    Conversely, just because some gimmicky things in the past have become useful today doesn't mean that everything considered gimmicky today will become useful in the future. Two words for you on that: flying cars.

    Being open-minded to technology doesn't mean you have to accept EVERY technology or technological idea as practical.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  5. Not 62 miles by YoungManKlaus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    100km you imperial-unit-morons!