Space Ship Two - General Thread

[Alpha Control]

Aviation Week blog post by Guy Norris today, with info indicating that the next supersonic flight of SS2 may occur soon, possibly during the time frame of the upcoming Paris Air Show.

He notes that two new SS2 pilots were given check rides in WK2 last week, including former shuttle commander C.J. Sturckow.

http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385&plckPostId=Blog%3a04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385Post%3a4103e24c-088d-489b-8dd0-053636ad8852

Do any of our European NSF members know if the SS2 mockup will be at the Paris Air Show this year?

[Olaf]

For the last four flights, Mark Stucky was always the pilot. In the time before the flights were alternating piloted by Siebold and Stucky. Has Siebold left the SS2 program?

Mr. Siebold was mentioned as a member of the GS Crew for the last flight.
http://www.scaled.com/projects/test_logs/35/model_339_spaceshiptwo/P0#ss2_GF25

Flight: 130 / GF25
Date: 25 Jul 13
Flight Time: 11 min, 52 sec
SS2 Pilot: Stucky SS2 CoPilot: Mackay
GS Crew: Bourgeois, Glaser, Knupp, Bassett, Jaster, Bozarth, Verderame, Prior, Cassebeer, Story, Baker, Gould, Colby, Withrow, Tighe, Siebold

Objectives:
VG pilot training

Results:
Objective achieved.

[Roy_H]

Flight:    131 / GF26
Date:    08 Aug 13
Flight Time:    10 min
SS2 Pilot:    Stucky    SS2 CoPilot:    Mackay
GS Crew:    Bourgeois, Glaser, Knupp, Bassett, Jaster, Corda, Kalogiannis, Verderame, Prior, Cassebeer, Baker, Gould, Colby, Kroese, Flynn, Tighe, Siebold

Objectives:
Pilot aircraft evaluation
Feather flight

Results:
Objectives achieved.

Another glide flight for feathering. I know some time back they experienced "rocking" and added nose strakes to solve the problem. Does anyone know if that was 100% successful?

[Olaf]

For the last four flights, Mark Stucky was always the pilot. In the time before the flights were alternating piloted by Siebold and Stucky. Has Siebold left the SS2 program?

Mr. Siebold was mentioned as a member of the GS Crew for the last flight.
http://www.scaled.com/projects/test_logs/35/model_339_spaceshiptwo/P0#ss2_GF25

Flight: 130 / GF25
Date: 25 Jul 13
Flight Time: 11 min, 52 sec
SS2 Pilot: Stucky SS2 CoPilot: Mackay
GS Crew: Bourgeois, Glaser, Knupp, Bassett, Jaster, Bozarth, Verderame, Prior, Cassebeer, Story, Baker, Gould, Colby, Withrow, Tighe, Siebold

Objectives:
VG pilot training

Results:
Objective achieved.

The WhiteKnightTwo Flight Test Summaries show that Mr. Siebold had made some flights on WhiteKnightTwo in September/October 2013.
http://www.scaled.com/projects/test_logs/37/model_348_whiteknighttwo

[Bubbinski]

According to my Twitter feed (parabolicarc.com account) and a VG Facebook post there's going to be a test flight of SpaceShipTwo today.  Also the tail is covered in Kapton for temperature control.

[averagespacejoe]

Looks like it was a glide test, but there was a promise of a powered flight soon from Virgin Galactic

[Garrett]

Here are the tweets by @VirginGalactic today, in chronological order (oldest first):

#SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo are out on the runway this morning for another test flight. It's quite cold here in Mojave!

#SpaceShipTwo looks sharper than ever with reflective Kapton coating on her tail. May help manage temperatures even better. Photos soon!

WhiteKnightTwo & #SpaceShipTwo just took off. WK2’s 145th, SS2’s 49th flight. All part of a rigorous testing program on road to spaceflight

#SpaceShipTwo just completed a planned test of her continuous nitrous dump system—another key test leading up to our next powered flight.

Release, release, release! #SpaceShipTwo is now flying freely for the 30th time. Further updates to come.

#SpaceShipTwo back on the ground after another important glide flight, which proceeded as planned. Our next powered flight is coming up soon

Scaled’s Mark Stucky and our own Mike Masucci flew #SpaceShipTwo today. Great flying, guys!

Check out the shiny new wings on #SpaceShipTwo in this photo from today's successful glide flight. pic.twitter.com/xw8c8N1bK1

Attached is the photo mentioned in the last tweet.

[Artyom.]

Virgin Galactic ‏@virgingalactic
Wednesday's #SpaceShipTwo flight was the first for Mike Masucci, former U-2 pilot. Kudos, Sooch!

https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/411536161576722432

[Ben the Space Brit]

According to my Twitter feed (parabolicarc.com account) and a VG Facebook post there's going to be a test flight of SpaceShipTwo today.  Also the tail is covered in Kapton for temperature control.

There's no mention of an engine light, so I'm thinking it was just a glide/landing test?

[Garrett]

According to my Twitter feed (parabolicarc.com account) and a VG Facebook post there's going to be a test flight of SpaceShipTwo today.  Also the tail is covered in Kapton for temperature control.

There's no mention of an engine light, so I'm thinking it was just a glide/landing test?

the following tweet (already quoted above) pointed out that it was only a glide flight:

Virgin Galactic ‏@virgingalactic  | 5:56 PM GMT- 11 Dec 13
#SpaceShipTwo back on the ground after another important glide flight, which proceeded as planned. Our next powered flight is coming up soon
https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/410830489709076480

[pericynthion]

This glide flight was primarily for pilot currency reasons, related to the (rather strict) FAA regulatory conditions they are operating under.

[Bubbinski]

Virgin Galactic's tweeted that SpaceShipTwo is on the runway for another test flight this morning.  However the weather's not looking good, they may have to cancel or change the flight.

Update: VG/Scaled has scrubbed the flight as per the VG Facebook/Twitter feeds.

[parabolicarc]

The flight was scrubbed due to excessive cloud cover.

It was not rescheduled for Thursday because weather was supposed to be worse. Weather is clearer in Mojave this morning, although it's windier so it's not clear whether they could have flowin today.

Scaled Composites has a day off on Friday, then the holidays begin. Word is the next powered flight won't be until early January. The Scalies come back to work on Jan. 6.

[Danderman]

[gbaikie]

"That would be a remarkable achievement in energy efficiency if it were true. Alas, it is not. According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's environmental assessment of the launch and re-entry of Virgin Galactic's spacecraft, one launch-land cycle emits about 30 tons of carbon dioxide, or about five tons per passenger. That is about five times the carbon footprint of a flight from Singapore to London.

When you include the energy of the entire Virgin Galactic operation, which includes support aircraft, it is seven times more than the flight from Singapore to London. As such, a single trip on Virgin Galactic will require twice as much energy as the average American consumes each year. (These numbers were confirmed by a representative for Virgin Galactic.)"
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304325004579296781320668314

Not that I care. But I don't get it. How can rocket which carried it's own oxidizer emit more CO2 than weight
of the rocket?
"General characteristics
Crew: 2
Capacity: 6 passengers
Length: 18.3 m (60 ft)
Wingspan: 8.3 m (27 ft)
Height: 5.5 m (18 ft – rudders down)
Loaded weight: 9,740 kg (21,428 lb)"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipTwo

And it is burning H and C, so I would think around half is H2O rather than CO2.
"RocketMotorTwo is a throttleable hybrid rocket engine fueled with hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTBP) and nitrous oxide – sometimes referred to as an N2O/HTPB engine[4][5] – providing 60,000 pounds-force (270 kN) of thrust."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RocketMotorTwo
And:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxyl-terminated_polybutadiene

Now kerosene [jet fuel] is also hydrocarbon so it's also making a lot water.
If counting "greenhouse equivalents" who the heck knows how it's accounted, but they are saying
CO2. And it being 30 tons. And adding on top of this for mothership.  Or do mean some other planes
in the air? Or what?

Edit:
Whiteknighttwo:
"Max cruise speed Mach 0.65
Service ceiling  50,000 ft  15,000 m
MTOW 70,000 lbm 31,700 kg
Range (no payload) 2,600 nm 4,815 km
Endurance (no payload) 11 hours

Max fuel load 21,400 lbm 9,700 kg "
http://www.thespaceshipcompany.com/images/uploads/documents/VG_Insert_v8_260612.pdf

So without payload flies 4,815 km [2985 miles] with .139 miles per lb .951 miles per gallon
And of course with payload it does worse.
So 11 hours in air flying at Mach 0.65, I assume will consumes a full tank.
But does it use full tank to launch the rocket?
How long is it in the air with it's payload and afterwards to land?

[NovaSilisko]

Presumably it is counting emissions of WK2. It's several hours of flying, but the 30 ton figure does still sound off.

[Elmar Moelzer]

It's several hours of flying, but the 30 ton figure does still sound off.

It does sound way off to me as well.

[Bubbinski]

Virgin Galactic tweeted that WK2 & SS2 are on the runway this morning for another test flight.  I hope this is powered, and I hope it breaks the Karman line!

[Lee Jay]

It's several hours of flying, but the 30 ton figure does still sound off.

It does sound way off to me as well.

Why?

21,400 pounds of fuel turns into 67,410 pounds of CO2, using the common number of 3.15kg CO2 per kg of jet fuel.

[Garrett]

Virgin Galactic tweeted that WK2 & SS2 are on the runway this morning for another test flight.  I hope this is powered, and I hope it breaks the Karman line!

Thanks for the heads up.

Doug Messier is tweeting the event. https://twitter.com/spacecom