Author Topic: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)  (Read 258498 times)

Online catdlr

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #20 on: 02/20/2016 05:34 am »
Official Virgin Galactic videos:

Celebrating Unity - Our Journey

Published on Feb 19, 2016
We are proud to introduce not only our brand new vehicle 'Virgin Spaceship Unity', but also some of our incredible team who are making our dream of opening up space to change the world for good, a reality.

Tony De La Rosa, ...I'm no Feline Dealer!! I move mountains.  but I'm better known for "I think it's highly sexual." Japanese to English Translation.

Online catdlr

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #21 on: 02/20/2016 05:35 am »
At SpaceshipTwo Christening, Sarah Brightman Sings Happy Birthday | Video

Published on Feb 19, 2016
In line with his intent to make space travel safe for families, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson let his granddaughter – Eva-Deia, one year old today – spill some ceremonial milk across the bow of ‘Unity,’ as SS2 will now be called.

Tony De La Rosa, ...I'm no Feline Dealer!! I move mountains.  but I'm better known for "I think it's highly sexual." Japanese to English Translation.

Offline Lars-J

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #22 on: 02/20/2016 06:45 am »
The savior of spaceflight has arrived. ;D

Offline Hauerg

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #23 on: 02/20/2016 06:58 am »
Is it only me or are they celebrating too much taking into account the "achievements" of the last decade+ ?

Offline Star One

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Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #24 on: 02/20/2016 08:26 am »
What's the betting that in spite of the spin there are more improvements and changes on this than they are admitting too.
« Last Edit: 02/20/2016 08:27 am by Star One »

Offline mfck

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #25 on: 02/20/2016 11:35 am »
What's the betting that in spite of the spin there are more improvements and changes on this than they are admitting too.
Well, the people driving the spin might be sincerely unaware of some technical changes and improvements. It's Virgin Galactic, after all.

"Never attribute to malice that which can be sufficiently explained by incompetence."

Offline Confusador

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #26 on: 02/20/2016 01:21 pm »
What's the betting that in spite of the spin there are more improvements and changes on this than they are admitting too.

That'd be difficult, since they're claiming they changed a lot.  To pull a quote from the SpaceNews article:

Quote from: Jeff Foust
Moses added that there are other, unspecified changes to the vehicle as a result of the accident. “We used the lens of that accident to look at everything else we do, in manufacturing, in ground processing, in servicing the vehicle and in flying the vehicle,” he said. “We looked at systems way beyond what the scope of the accident investigation asked us to look at.”

Offline Rocket Science

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #27 on: 02/20/2016 01:35 pm »
Thanks for the great article Chris and all who helped with the coverage of the roll-out. :) Nice to see Harrison Ford at the controls even if on the ground he being another "old stick and rudder guy"... ;D Having Mike is a definite plus to the program; however he can only make it as safe as the system design will allow. Perhaps obvious or not but still needs to be said IMHO...
"The laws of physics are unforgiving"
~Rob: Physics instructor, Aviator

Offline Star One

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #28 on: 02/20/2016 02:31 pm »

What's the betting that in spite of the spin there are more improvements and changes on this than they are admitting too.

That'd be difficult, since they're claiming they changed a lot.  To pull a quote from the SpaceNews article:

Quote from: Jeff Foust
Moses added that there are other, unspecified changes to the vehicle as a result of the accident. “We used the lens of that accident to look at everything else we do, in manufacturing, in ground processing, in servicing the vehicle and in flying the vehicle,” he said. “We looked at systems way beyond what the scope of the accident investigation asked us to look at.”

That's the first time I've seen that quote, so thanks for that. Good that they've improved things just a shame that it could be said it cost a man his life to do so.

Offline Borklund

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #29 on: 02/20/2016 03:38 pm »
Promotional video starring Malala Yousafzai



My pillows are less fluffier than this

Offline yg1968

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #30 on: 02/20/2016 03:46 pm »
It seems that SS2 now has a skid at the front.

Online Eric Hedman

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #31 on: 02/20/2016 04:25 pm »
That's the first time I've seen that quote, so thanks for that. Good that they've improved things just a shame that it could be said it cost a man his life to do so.
I recently watched "The Right Stuff" again.  When you see the pictures  of all the pilots who lost their lives in the bar in Mojave you know that this wasn't the first time someone lost their life for advances in aerospace and it won't be the last.  Hopefully it will remain an increasingly rare occurrence. 

Offline Star One

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #32 on: 02/20/2016 06:19 pm »

That's the first time I've seen that quote, so thanks for that. Good that they've improved things just a shame that it could be said it cost a man his life to do so.
I recently watched "The Right Stuff" again.  When you see the pictures  of all the pilots who lost their lives in the bar in Mojave you know that this wasn't the first time someone lost their life for advances in aerospace and it won't be the last.  Hopefully it will remain an increasingly rare occurrence.

Oh yes that's an apt comparison. It probably seems more shocking to many, me included, because such events are as you say thankfully less common.

Online Comga

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #33 on: 02/20/2016 09:21 pm »
Promotional video starring Malala Yousafzai



My pillows are less fluffier than this

Perhaps, but I would rather watch Ms Yousfazai than Sir Richard.

Her video ends with her asking "Is it a bit slow?"
Was she referring to her commentary or the development effort? :P
What kind of wastrels would dump a perfectly good booster in the ocean after just one use?

Online ethan829

Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #34 on: 02/21/2016 12:29 pm »
It seems that SS2 now has a skid at the front.


VSS Enterprise did as well.

Offline parabolicarc

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #35 on: 02/21/2016 06:11 pm »
The devil is in the details.

Was building virtually a carbon copy of the first ship a wise move?

Or does the new ship incorporate some of the same flaws that Scaled built into it?

Are they going to flight test the shit out of it?

Or are they pursuing a shorted powered flight test program along the lines of reckless program they had planned before the first ship went down?

Everyone said all the right things on Friday. But, they said the same things about safety before the crash. It was more rhetorical than real.


 

Offline woods170

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #36 on: 02/21/2016 06:40 pm »
The devil is in the details.

Was building virtually a carbon copy of the first ship a wise move?

Or does the new ship incorporate some of the same flaws that Scaled built into it?

Are they going to flight test the shit out of it?

Or are they pursuing a shorted powered flight test program along the lines of reckless program they had planned before the first ship went down?

Everyone said all the right things on Friday. But, they said the same things about safety before the crash. It was more rhetorical than real.


 
Mr. Negativity is back on this thread. Could you for once, just for once, add something constructive to VG threads, in stead of just taking random stabs? Thanks.

Online Comga

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #37 on: 02/21/2016 07:44 pm »
When SpaceX had their LOV on CRS-7 they didn't just upgrade the struts that were the direct cause of their accident. They say they have made many improvements.
VG claims to have done the same for SS2 #2.
It's a shame that didn't include a switch to liquid propulsion.
Even VG says that's the way to go long term.
They talk about their Newton engines but not about any future Mk 2 hybrid engines.
"No matter how far you have gone gown the wrong road, turn back."
What kind of wastrels would dump a perfectly good booster in the ocean after just one use?

Offline QuantumG

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #38 on: 02/21/2016 07:48 pm »
Moses says their new rubber burning engine is working great, so I'd like to see it fly. Rocket engine development isn't a spigot that you can turn off and back on again. When Markusic it was a serious blow to their liquidization project.
Human spaceflight is basically just LARPing now.

Offline CameronD

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Re: Space Ship Two - General Thread (3)
« Reply #39 on: 02/22/2016 03:02 am »
I'm really quite impressed by this neat bit of spin, as reported to the press on the day:

Quote
The accident was blamed on pilot error and oversights by Northrop Grumman Corp's Scaled Composites division, which designed, built and tested the first vehicle, known as SpaceShipTwo.

Virgin Galactic's own manufacturing arm, The Spaceship Company, already was well into construction of the second SpaceShipTwo of the fleet when the accident occurred.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-20/virgin-galactic-set-to-debut-new-passenger-spaceship/7186108


I mean, why take the blame for something when you can blame someone else?  ::)

« Last Edit: 02/22/2016 03:05 am by CameronD »
With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine - however, this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are
going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead.

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