VgGalactic press release thread

[vt_hokie]

Same here, I think it's pretty cool!  I may not be able to afford to go myself, but I look forward to watching the flights as they begin testing the vehicle!

[kevin-rf]

antonioe - 28/1/2008  11:03 AM

Well, I think it is very cool.  I will sign up for a ride if I find I can afford it.  At $20K I'd buy a ticket right now.  At $50K I would have to think hard about it.  At $100K, I can't afford it.

I know - alas! - I'll never be able to afford a ride to orbit.  But black sky, Mach 3.5 and 100 km will let me die in peace.

You could always take the approach of "If we where to ever launch a pegasus from white knight 2, we would need to make sure the enviroment is up to our standards."

Good luck and let me know how far you get with that ...

I still think your Major Kong approach to riding a pegasus is your best bet.

[antonioe]

kevin-rf - 28/1/2008 2:13 PM  You could always take the approach of "If we where to ever launch a pegasus from white knight 2, we would need to make sure the enviroment is up to our standards." Good luck and let me know how far you get with that ...

Hey, it worked for the B-52, it should work for WK2!!! (except that the B-52 had ejection seats and cool USAF oxygen masks and WK2 has neither - so there).

I still think your Major Kong approach to riding a pegasus is your best bet.

The day we finalized the fairing dimensions for Pegasus (1988?) DWT asked me to sketch it real-size on a 4'x8' whiteboard I had in my office.  He then outlined a chair and a human figure sitting on it WITHIN the fairing envelope.  He then added glasses that made the figure look suspiciously like me.  I asked him if that was a hint that he wanted to get rid of his Chief Engineer.

He settled with handing me a ten-gallon hat the day (two days, actually) before the first Pegasus flight...

[kevin-rf]

antonioe - 30/1/2008  6:26 PM

The day we finalized the fairing dimensions for Pegasus (1988?) DWT asked me to sketch it real-size on a 4'x8' whiteboard I had in my office.  He then outlined a chair and a human figure sitting on it WITHIN the fairing envelope.  He then added glasses that made the figure look suspiciously like me.  I asked him if that was a hint that he wanted to get rid of his Chief Engineer.

He settled with handing me a ten-gallon hat the day (two days, actually) before the first Pegasus flight...

I suspect the real story behind this is you turn to DWT as the B-52 pilots are almost done going through the pre-flight check list and ask, "You got the hat right". To which someone sheepishly replies, "yeah, this is just for a photo right", "Sure" you reply, grab the hat jump on top of the Pegasus frantically waiving to the pilots to gun it, while security wrestles you to the ground and back into your ejection seat.

I can clearly see the security guards in the thumbnail using Richard Hoagland image processing software  :cool:

Enjoy your flight on white knight 2

[antonioe]

(holding sides to avoid bursting with laughter) - OK, OK, enough of that - back to the thread...

[Lampyridae]

8900 - 28/1/2008  11:18 PM

Let's talk about the design
Who think the newly unveiled design is more "cool" than the original concept?

The long nose is interesting. For heating issues, it makes sense to round off the nose. It looks like the nose design borrows a lot from the X-15. Lookswise, it's a lot cooler than the 1940s rocketship / Bell X-1 look of SS1.

[Lampyridae]

antonioe - 31/1/2008  11:36 AM

(holding sides to avoid bursting with laughter) - OK, OK, enough of that - back to the thread...

If you could come up with a pressure suit and a MOOSE system, and then stick yourself in the nosecone of a Pegasus, I'm pretty sure you could make it to space for an orbit or two. At $30 mil a ride, it's a bit cheaper than what the Russians charge. Although the experience would be somewhat less luxurious than the ISS or Soyuz.

Maybe you could talk your bosses into giving you spare room on a Taurus II liftoff? You might have to camp out for a couple of days inside the payload shroud in a sweaty pressure suit, but hey, that's economy class for you...

[aero313]

Lampyridae - 30/1/2008  10:42 PM

8900 - 28/1/2008  11:18 PM

Let's talk about the design
Who think the newly unveiled design is more "cool" than the original concept?

The long nose is interesting. For heating issues, it makes sense to round off the nose. It looks like the nose design borrows a lot from the X-15. Lookswise, it's a lot cooler than the 1940s rocketship / Bell X-1 look of SS1.

Uh, what "heating" issues?  Keep in mind that SSI only needed paint and a little RTV for thermal control.

[antonioe]

Lampyridae - 30/1/2008 9:42 PM The long nose is interesting. For heating issues, it makes sense to round off the nose. It looks like the nose design borrows a lot from the X-15. Lookswise, it's a lot cooler than the 1940s rocketship / Bell X-1 look of SS1.

(Speaking with an unfair advantage) Don't also forget the need, very frequent, to locate subsystems and subsystems elements very far ahead in the fuselage, sometimes for c.g. control.

[gladiator1332]

Rob in KC - 28/1/2008  10:50 AM

8900 - 28/1/2008  8:18 AM

Let's talk about the design
Who think the newly unveiled design is more "cool" than the original concept?

There's nothing cool about this. It's a suborbital joyride.

Nothing cool about this? This is just about the coolest space related design I have seen in recent years. And the sweet part is, this thing will actually fly.

The suborbital joyride is going to help pay the bills, but think of all the science that will result from this vehicle. I was beginning to dread that when the Shuttle retires in 2010, we were going to forget about winged spacecraft.
This vehicle can help develop and will most likely lead to a cheaper winged orbital spacecraft.

Ares I / V and Orion are exciting, but look how depressing things are over in that court. This announement gives us something to get excited about again. I remember the SS1 flights and all the excitement about spaceflight it caused. This is going to do it again once flight tests and actual flights begin.

[A_M_Swallow]

CuddlyRocket - 24/1/2008  10:46 AM
{snip}

I think this is the route by which (relatively) low-cost LEO access will eventually come. Once in place, the drive will always be to reduce the unit cost and lengthen the experience. I don't know the range of SS2 in cross-country mode (though you can glide quite a way if you start 100 miles up, and the carrier craft wouldn't go round in circles whilst reaching launch height), but at some point in development the cost/range/time of flight equation will produce a marketable advantage over aircraft.

Virgin Galactic mentioned long range journeys and small satellite launch to "New Scientist".
http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19726415.600

[8900]

gladiator1332 - 2/2/2008  6:10 AM

Nothing cool about this? This is just about the coolest space related design I have seen in recent years. And the sweet part is, this thing will actually fly.

The suborbital joyride is going to help pay the bills, but think of all the science that will result from this vehicle. I was beginning to dread that when the Shuttle retires in 2010, we were going to forget about winged spacecraft.
This vehicle can help develop and will most likely lead to a cheaper winged orbital spacecraft.

Ares I / V and Orion are exciting, but look how depressing things are over in that court. This announement gives us something to get excited about again. I remember the SS1 flights and all the excitement about spaceflight it caused. This is going to do it again once flight tests and actual flights begin.

When one day, people talk about space travel, and think that
"There's nothing cool about this, I can go next Christmas holiday"
That means space tourism becomes very successful
because someone said before: the most successful technology is the technology that
you don't realize it is a high-tech thing at all
But that day is definitely not today, so, from today's point of view, it's very cool :cool:

besides, anyone subscribed to newscientist magazine? plz post the full article here

[meiza]

How do the intercity trips become fast if WK2 takes so long to climb? Perhaps launch already at 10 km height and approve lower performance... (If the hybrid motor can take that). And I still have my doubts about the range.

And could it fly a low trajectory without the shuttlecock configuration? What do the thermal loads look like?

[A_M_Swallow]

8900 - 3/2/2008  5:54 AM
besides, anyone subscribed to newscientist magazine? plz post the full article here

That particular "New Scientist" article is under restricted distribution, which is why I did not copy the paragraph across.
Someone will have to ask at the next press conference.

It sounds like VirginAtlantic plans to keep the mother-ship but will use a larger "spaceship".

[Spiff]

There was a fairly elaborate news item this morning on dutch news radio (Radio 1) about a company marketing Virgin Galactic tickets in the Benelux. They're calling themselves a 'travel agency for space travel.' I tried to find the feed on the net somewhere but failed. It was in Dutch anyway, so most people here wouldn't have been able to understand. Below are some of the things mentioned (and are interesting enough to mention here)

- VG already sold 260 tickets worldwide
- VG will 'launch' WK2/SS2 in July this year (I suppose they mean 'rollout' )
- Planning on a space port in the Dutch Antilles (Might just be the 'this is dutch radio' angle)

Most of the rest was what we already knew for a long time. $200k per ticket, might go down, 2 planes/5 spaceships, 110km suborbital, yadayadayada. The usual stuff.

Their website: www.yourgalaxy.eu obviously shows the VG affiliation, but they are also talking about simpler 0-g flights and other spaceflight related things. They are having a press conference at space-expo (the space museum near ESTEC) today about their activities for VG. So I'll see if I can find some press releases about that in the coming days.

[coach]

Burt Rutan steps down as President of Scaled.

http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=689137521710

Coach

[docmordrid]

Not surprised given his heart troubles....