Virgin Galactic Spaceship Plans Ok'd by U.S. Government

[arobie]

U.S. Okays Virgin Galactic Spaceship Plans<br />by: Leonard David<br /><br />A go-ahead was given last week by the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) that clears the way for exchanges of technical information between Scaled Composites of Mojave, California and Virgin Galactic of the United Kingdom to build passenger-carrying suborbital spaceliners.<br /><br />Among its duties, DDTC administers and enforces International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).<br /><br />“Putting it in ITAR terms…this is one small step for ITAR, one big leap for Virgin Galactic,” said Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic—the space tourism endeavor that is a subsidiary of British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.<br /><br />“It allows us to activate all the parts of the project,” Whitehorn told SPACE.com in an exclusive phone interview, such as use of technology—SpaceShipOne’s reentry concept and hybrid rocket motor design, for example—that can be licensed through Paul Allen’s Mojave Aerospace Ventures.<br /><br />- - - - -<br /><br />The rest is continued in the Space.com article.<br /><br />Very Cool! Virgin Galactic gets the go ahead. On with the plans. I love it. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" />

 

[kdavis007]

Excellent....

 

[lunatio_gordin]

any ideas on when to expect a test flight of the SS2? 2007?

 

[lunatio_gordin]

the article isn't quite that specific, but i've seen this as an upscaled SS1, and they've been calling it SS2 for a long time now.<br /><br />I thought it was just a larger version so that they could carry more passengers...

 

[john_316]

Kool!!!!!!!!<br /><br />I hope they get it up and running soon....<br /><br />Hope Space Ship 2 is really neat too...<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br />

 

[nacnud]

I think that its tier 1 is sub-orbital, tier 2 is orbital and tier 3 is beyond Earth orbit.<br /><br />So SS1 and SS2 are tier 1<br /><br />CXV is tier 2 ?<br /><br />CEV proposal is tier 3 ?<br /><br />That is if you count t/Space and Scaled’s plans as the same, which isn't necessarily the case.<br />

 

[holmec]

no, no.<br /><br />What Rutan said in Black Sky, was that Tier 1 was suborbital, Tier 2 was orbital, and Tier 3 was interplanetary.<br /><br />SS1 and SS2 are both under Tier1. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[holmec]

Very cool. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">What Rutan said in Black Sky, was that Tier 1 was suborbital, Tier 2 was orbital, and Tier 3 was interplanetary.</font>/i><br /><br />I wonder if a trip to the Moon is considered "interplanetary"?<br /><br />This did bring up one thought: Would a private manned mission to Mars be possible in ~15 years?<br /><br />Here would be the plan. (1) NASA offers use of the SDHLV for free to the private organization. (2) The private organization uses the "Mars Direct" strategy.<br /><br />This plan would use three SDHLV launches over two years for the first manned mission (provided by NASA). The organization would provide (A) two Earh Return Vehicles and (B) a one-way habitat vehicle. These would be paid for by the organization.<br /><br />Any idea how much each of these ships would cost? Does Zubrin have an estimate of the cost of the mission if the HLV vehicle and launches were paid for?</i>

 

[frodo1008]

Many here don't seem to understand what Rutan is trying to do here. He has said that his number one priority ISN'T to get something up quickly! What he HAS said is that his FIRST priority IS safety of flight!!!!! When you are flying paying purely private flights of even a sub orbital space ship the LAST thing you need is ANY kind of accident!! So the next space ship designed and built by Rutan and his company is going to quite probably be the most tested space craft EVER built!! And this will just be a sub orbital vehicle! <br /><br />I would also fully expect that such sub orbital flights are going to be the proving grounds for something that pure private investors are going to INSIST on and that is at each step of the way through these so-called tiers each of the preceeding tiers is going to have to prove its profitability before the money will become available for the NEXT tier!! Even if Rutan himself would not be aware of this (and even though he IS an idealist, he IS also a realist and do I would think that he would indeed BE aware of this) the investors and accountants of such as Virgin Galactic are VERY aware of it!!<br /><br />Perhaps I am wrong here, but I really would NOT look for anything beyond sub orbital flight (tier 1, if you must) for at least five more years. Then I would suspect that a sort of modified tier 1 would come next. By this I mean that whatever the final spaceshiptwo design is, I am sure that Rutan is going to be wanting to experiment (I am certain, that there will at least be some money available) with making his sub orbital space craft operate at a higher velocity (hypersonic, taking asvantage of both past and near future NASA work in this area), fly to higher altitudes, and carry a greeater passenger load. Eventually, I would think that the next logical step is not tier 2 pure orbital flight, but high velocity hypersonic flight with paying passengers between the major airports of the Earth. Heck, he may even wish to get with wha

 

[shuttle_rtf]

I hope this works out, although I would be wary of the long term future as Sir Branson is notorious (with a capital N) of getting bored really fast with his 'new things'.

 

[nacnud]

I agree with you on the safty aspect of Rutans designs. The apear to me to be much more fail safe than other X-prize contestants and space plane designs and at least on a par with capsules. <br /><br />However I can't see the need for Rutan to investigate hypersonics. Going that fast in the atmosphere is hard I would have thought that apart from re-entry the Rutal would avoid it.<br /><br />Also why would anyone need to cross the pacific in 2 hours? <br /><br />It seems that there isn't a market large enough to support the development of a modern Super Sonic Transport let alone a Hyper Sonic Transport.

 

[vidar]

Gods and women disagree.

 

[cuddlyrocket]

Sir Richard, or Sir Richard Branson, but <i>never</i> Sir Branson.<br /><br />(Just being pernickety <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> )

 

[frodo1008]

Any space craft that comes home to the Earth must go through the Earth's atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. This would also include capsule designs such as the CXV. But as I pointed out for such vehicles to provide for the comfort and viewing pleasure of tourists it is going to have to be at least a lifting body type of craft. This IS why anyone wishing to build such vehicles IS going to be forced to investigate flying in the hypersonic region of the velocity range in the Earth's atmosphere. <br />It is just the physics of the situation.<br /><br />Actually, quite probably most of such a two hour flight would be far enough above the atmosphere that it would not be in the hypersonic area. But, for the above reasons, hypersonic flight is going to have to be investigated anyway.<br /><br />Also, businessmen and women at the very least would be very appreciative of such short flights. They would quite gladly pay whatever premium would be required. <br /><br />Besides, why not combine the thrill of a sub-orbital flight with actually going on vacation to a place on the other side of the earth? I mean if people are willing to just experience some 5 minutes of such flight then why not the greater level of experience that this would require?

 

[craig42]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><br />Besides, why not combine the thrill of a sub-orbital flight with actually going on vacation to a place on the other side of the earth?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote> That would actually give you the thrill of two rides, one there and back. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />BA was able to make money from concorde supersonic flights. If the craft travels high enough up we can reduce/elimnate friction and sonic booms, making hypersonic flight more technicaly and econmicaly feasible

 

[shuttle_rtf]

>Sir Richard, or Sir Richard Branson, but never Sir Branson. <<br /><br />The bloke with big teeth <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[pirx_the_pilot]

Hey I saw this about a new quieter jet.<br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/4158802.stm<br /><br />The old flying wing. The cool factor is there. Makes me hope the LockMart liftingbody gets picked for CEV. Anyways maybe there are ways to fly quieter? Looks like the kind of cool thing Branson would wanna try.