Author Topic: Space Ship Two - General Thread (Read 748599 times)

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #1000 on:** 04/30/2013 09:18 am »

VG have posted a new extended video of yesterday's flight, including some additional camera angles:

Update: the new angles seem to show that SS2 continued to lose a fair amount of altitude after the burn started. I'd wondered why SS2 didn't go higher yesterday, in comparison with SS1's first powered flight. It seems that they began the climb later yesterday and perhaps at a shallower angle too?

Garrett · « **Reply #1001 on:** 04/30/2013 09:32 am »

A belated congrats to the all the folks who worked on SS2 for a wonderful first powered flight. Followed the event through Twitter and NSF on airport wifi

.

This was the moment we were all waiting for folks and boy was it beautiful! Looking forward to an exciting year of slowly expanding the flight envelope to 100 km!

john smith 19 · « **Reply #1002 on:** 04/30/2013 10:08 am »

This is a major achievement for the idea of a wholly commercial space company. It's also interesting that they felt confident enough of their vehicle to go for M1.2 on the 1st rocket flight out.

Like everyone else I wish them a smooth trip through their remaining test programme and the start of commercial operations.

The first with Sir Richard and his family on board should be quite a media event.

But I think Sir Branson is a kind of relish for hamburgers.

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #1003 on:** 04/30/2013 10:17 am »

Another video with remarks from Sir Branson:

R7 · « **Reply #1004 on:** 04/30/2013 10:56 am »

Is this some weird optical lens deformation or is the nozzle really cut asymmetric?

Ben the Space Brit · « **Reply #1005 on:** 04/30/2013 11:17 am »

Quote from: R7 on 04/30/2013 10:56 am

Is this some weird optical lens deformation or is the nozzle really cut asymmetric?

It looks like it really is asymmetric. I noticed that the nozzle was an odd shape in the tail boom camera shot but I thought it was something to do with the angle and possibly the lens.

JBF · « **Reply #1006 on:** 04/30/2013 11:19 am »

Quote from: R7 on 04/30/2013 10:56 am

Is this some weird optical lens deformation or is the nozzle really cut asymmetric?

It's cut asymmetric to give it a better pitch up rate with smaller control surfaces.

Crispy · « **Reply #1007 on:** 04/30/2013 11:23 am »

My first thought is that the external air pressure environment around the nozzle is asymmetric due to the influence of the wing and body. The nozzle is asymmetric in response, in order to maintain the same pressure all the way round the lip. I am not an aerodynamicist of any sort, mind...

grakenverb · « **Reply #1008 on:** 04/30/2013 11:26 am »

Quote from: Chris Bergin on 04/30/2013 12:41 am

Sorry for the crap article. Had absolutely no time today outside of the day jobs.

Only put this together because we needed to reference the milestone:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/04/first-powered-flight-success-spaceshiptwo/

I like this part:

"Virgin Galactic have been waiting to carry out the powered qualification flight of their SpaceShipTwo (SS2) passenger vehicle for some time now, ahead of launching celebrities and rich people on a short suborbital joyride."

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #1009 on:** 04/30/2013 11:52 am »

'Rich people'

I can barely pay my credit card bills from time to time, yet there are millions in this world who might consider me wealthy compared to themselves. Just as I may consider my employer wealthy, but compared to Larry Ellison or Bill Gates... Not so much.

The point is: it may only be for 'wealthy people' at first - and plenty of socialist media editorials will call Virgin Galactic passengers rich for some time to come - but the point is that quite apart from earning a tidy buck, eventually, Richard Branson is visionary and altruistic enough to want many 'ordinary people' to experience not just flight, but spaceflight. I look forward to the day SO MUCH when spaceflight is seen as commonplace and not just a Sci-Fi Frivolity.

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #1010 on:** 04/30/2013 11:54 am »

Oh; and I forgot to say -

GO, VIRGIN GALACTIIIIIIIC!!

grondilu · « **Reply #1011 on:** 04/30/2013 12:46 pm »

So far this is seen as a luxurious leisure trip in space, but is there any chance this could lead to an actual fast transportation vehicle? I mean, even if it is very expensive, could it be used by rich people to cross oceans faster than what is currently available to them?

Garrett · « **Reply #1012 on:** 04/30/2013 12:59 pm »

Quote from: grondilu on 04/30/2013 12:46 pm

So far this is seen as a luxurious leisure trip in space, but is there any chance this could lead to an actual fast transportation vehicle? I mean, even if it is very expensive, could it be used by rich people to cross oceans faster than what is currently available to them?

Not in the near future.
There have been several discussions on this thread and the VG/Scaled General Discussion thread about this. For example: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=27684.msg852076#msg852076

Aeroman · « **Reply #1013 on:** 04/30/2013 01:10 pm »

I have a quick question with regards to SpaceShip1 and WhiteKnight1. Why wasn't SS1 used to fly paying customers to the edge of space like it was built to do as it can carry 1 pilot and 2 paying customers.

Aeroman

Ben the Space Brit · « **Reply #1014 on:** 04/30/2013 01:17 pm »

Quote from: Aeroman on 04/30/2013 01:10 pm

I have a quick question with regards to SpaceShip1 and WhiteKnight1. Why wasn't SS1 used to fly paying customers to the edge of space like it was built to do as it can carry 1 pilot and 2 paying customers.

I believe that the FAA had serious concerns about several aspects of the design and refused SS1 a license for passengers.

jnc · « **Reply #1015 on:** 04/30/2013 01:24 pm »

Quote from: Ben the Space Brit on 04/30/2013 01:17 pm

I believe that the FAA had serious concerns about several aspects of the design and refused SS1 a license for passengers.

Any idea what the issues were, and how they were solved in SS2?

Noel

grakenverb · « **Reply #1016 on:** 04/30/2013 01:39 pm »

Quote from: MATTBLAK on 04/30/2013 11:52 am

'Rich people' I can barely pay my credit card bills from time to time, yet there are millions in this world who might consider me wealthy compared to themselves. Just as I may consider my employer wealthy, but compared to Larry Ellison or Bill Gates... Not so much.

The point is: it may only be for 'wealthy people' at first - and plenty of socialist media editorials will call Virgin Galactic passengers rich for some time to come - but the point is that quite apart from earning a tidy buck, eventually, Richard Branson is visionary and altruistic enough to want many 'ordinary people' to experience not just flight, but spaceflight. I look forward to the day SO MUCH when spaceflight is seen as commonplace and not just a Sci-Fi Frivolity.

I have no beef with "rich people". "That's it when you got it baby, flaunt it! Flaunt it!" as Max Bialystock said.

I guess I feel like the kid who is a huge Yankee fan and knows every stat about every player who can only afford nosebleed seats, while the Wall Street guy who doesn't know the infield fly rule from a balk is sitting right behind home plate.

It's not that they don't deserve it, it's just that they wont appreciate it as much as "we NSF people" would!

Garrett · « **Reply #1017 on:** 04/30/2013 01:46 pm »

Quote from: Aeroman on 04/30/2013 01:10 pm

I have a quick question with regards to SpaceShip1 and WhiteKnight1. Why wasn't SS1 used to fly paying customers to the edge of space like it was built to do as it can carry 1 pilot and 2 paying customers.

It was a barebones prototype. Scaled and Virgin would have been crazy to risk flying customers on board. In any case, I'm not sure legislation/waivers were in place at the time for doing so.

The more apt question, that has been asked numerous times on this forum, is why didn't Virgin/Scaled go for a SS1-Mark 2, i.e. a commercial version of SS1. There has not being a definitive answer to that question. My guess is that they did indeed consider it (they're smart guys after all) but came to the conclusion (which, with retrospect, we can safely say was naive) that they could pull off a 6-seater within a short timeframe.

People within VG and Scaled will eventually talk and we'll get the full story someday, probably in 5 to 10 years time.

Crispy · « **Reply #1018 on:** 04/30/2013 01:54 pm »

I imagine there's sound economic reasons. SS2 would bring in 3x the revenue of SS1 per flight. I doubt that it costs 3x as much to operate.

JohnFornaro · « **Reply #1019 on:** 04/30/2013 02:03 pm »

What a great first flight! Any footage of the landing?