Space Ship Two - General Thread

[Orbiter]

Besides, there Still is Dragon.

Which is unmanned.If you have looked at mission coverage of Progress the only thing visible of any flights would be maybe the first launch and docking, with others simply covering the docking phase.

Unmanned at first. Dragon is actualy designed to carry a crew. The key question is when will Space X be ready. There is at least a chance space X could fly a manned dragon before 2014.

A key question on the SS3 time table is how much work have they already done on the concept. They may be further along than we know.

As for SS2 while it can't fill the orbital gap it will still be be interesting to see.

There's been FAR out talk, by Rutan, of SS4, designed to carry Sattilites onto orbit.

[cpcjr]

Besides, there Still is Dragon.

Which is unmanned.If you have looked at mission coverage of Progress the only thing visible of any flights would be maybe the first launch and docking, with others simply covering the docking phase.

Unmanned at first. Dragon is actualy designed to carry a crew. The key question is when will Space X be ready. There is at least a chance space X could fly a manned dragon before 2014.

A key question on the SS3 time table is how much work have they already done on the concept. They may be further along than we know.

As for SS2 while it can't fill the orbital gap it will still be be interesting to see.

There's been FAR out talk, by Rutan, of SS4, designed to carry Sattilites onto orbit.

Wouldn't be surprised.

The point is that you can't aways tell how far along a project is from the outside. Rutan probably already has his design guys working on SS3 and maybe even SS4. I suspect that much of the work on SS1 & 2 has been done with SS3 & 4 maybe even an SS5 in mind

[astrobrian]

If you ever saw the Black Sky documentary put out on Discovery channel about Rutan getting the X Prize, you'd know he has had orbital stuff on his mind for a while.

[meiza]

It would be easiest to have SS3 as a capsule, as heating issues get worse and worse with increasing speeds if you go higher, nevermind orbital.

[Orbiter]

It would be easiest to have SS3 as a capsule, as heating issues get worse and worse with increasing speeds if you go higher, nevermind orbital.

Very true, I was thinking about that myself, specially when you look back on Columbia and the X-15. And For Lunar Return, obviously a winged spacecraft wouldn't do well for it, unless modified to be able to fold the wings. I would say SS3 is a Capsule.

[vt_hokie]

I hope he finds the money somehow to make SS3 a reality!

[Jim]

I hope he finds the money somehow to make SS3 a reality!

"He" doesn't own the company anymore.  It is NG

[nobodyofconsequence]

... I would say SS3 is a Capsule.

No. Don't bet on it. Burt's a pilot first, engineer second. There will be significant cross range.

[meiza]

Actually, if you read Rocketeers by Michael Belfiore, Scaled Composites was planning a capsule for suborbital tourists before they joined the X-Prize cup (or how it went exactly), recovery by parachute at the Gulf of Mexico IIRC.
Still air launch from under an aircraft.

[khallow]

Shame, they slipped the first test flight to 2010.
Could be a way to Fill in the Gap if you look at it, with the Dragon.

No, it is not a orbital vehicle.   It has less than 1/10 of the propulsion capability needed to go into orbit.

Hmmm, the Dragon is intended to be orbital (when mounted on the Falcon 9) and I gather SpaceShip Two has similar delta-v performance to SpaceShip One. According to Scaled Composites description of a SpaceShip One launch (and my calculations on the matter, which I can't currently locate), SpaceShip One's propulsion system achieved somewhere around 1/5 to 1/4 of the necessary delta-v to reach orbit.

[nacnud]

SpaceShip One's propulsion system achieved somewhere around 1/5 to 1/4 of the necessary delta-v to reach orbit.

That may be the propulsion system on it's own, ie without SSone...

[iamlucky13]

SS1 reached about 2200 mph. Orbital velocity is about 17,500 mph.

So it reached about 13% of orbital velocity, but only about 1.5% of orbital kinetic energy.

So far I've seen nothing of a Space Ship 3 except off-hand inferences that something should follow SS2, if it's a success. I definitely haven't seen anything about an orbital launch vehicle.

It used to be that discussions were tempered with reminders not to get excited about a project until hardware starts getting built, or at least until there's some funding. Now it's seems that we need to remind people not to get excited until someone actually says they plan to start a project.

[coach]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/07/27/space.tourism.ap/index.html#cnnSTCText

WK2 is released tomorrow!!  No word yet on SS2.  Whitehorn mentions that it could be early 2010 before we see passengers.


Coach

[tobi453]

New WK2 pictures+video are here:
http://virgingalactic.com/pressftp/

[Ronsmytheiii]

well, she is much bigger than WhiteKnight one:

edit:  Seems the cockpit windows on the right are painted on.

[Rifleman]

It looks like one boom has painted windows, the other boom has real windows. I wonder if this is how all WK2's will be, or if it is just this way for the first aircraft.

[daveglo]

New WK2 pictures+video are here:
http://virgingalactic.com/pressftp/

Also some interesting graphics of SS2 at the link.

I had the fortune of listening to Burt make a presentation during the X-Prize festivities in St. Louis after the SS1 flights.  One man's vision, but a whole lot of sweat equity from the team he assembled.  The technical challenge of scaling up to SS2 will be easier than the logistical challenge of scaling up his team to the same level of performance.

[Danderman]

I have to ask this question: what is the lift capability of WKII, compared with the Orbital L1011 parked down the street?

[Davinator]

Is this site going to cover this suborbital joyride? I know there was a lot of anger when Branson had the cheek to mention it was safer than Shuttle. Rediculous to compare this SS2 to Shuttle, unless you're asking if SS2 fits inside the payload bay

[vt_hokie]

I think the fake painted windows are kind of corny.