SpaceShipTwo image

[Tap-Sa]

Benny - 30/3/2006  12:56 PM

Is there any verification if they are going to use the VLA (Very Large Aircraft) Scaled
designed and produced for t/Space as the mothership for  SpaceShipTwo?

Unless t/Space has secretly raised hundreds of millions the VLA is just a concept. And it's an overkill to loft SS2, order of magnitude difference in payload weights.

[Benny]

Tap-Sa - 3/4/2006  9:12 AM

Benny - 30/3/2006  12:56 PM

Is there any verification if they are going to use the VLA (Very Large Aircraft) Scaled
designed and produced for t/Space as the mothership for  SpaceShipTwo?

Unless t/Space has secretly raised hundreds of millions the VLA is just a concept. And it's an overkill to loft SS2, order of magnitude difference in payload weights.

Oh ok -thanks! I just thaught I had read some article claiming that SS2 and VLA would be the likely config.
- Thanks again.

[publiusr]

Benny - 30/3/2006  3:56 AM

Is there any verification if they are going to use the VLA (Very Large Aircraft) Scaled
designed and produced for t/Space as the mothership for  SpaceShipTwo?

Rutan really doesn't have any experience building large aircraft. It would be best if branson and t/Space split the cost of bringing finishing a second AN-225.

[Benny]

Branson also said the SpaceShipTwo engineering design details will be revealed in
2007 and that suborbital flights for space tourists are expected to start in 2008.
Astronaut-pilots are being readied.   (http://www.spaceports.blogspot.com/)

I am a little confused: I thought SS2 would be introduced to the public in the first
half of 2006???  

[mlorrey]

Crispy - 1/3/2006  6:14 PM

Hang on a minute - this thing flies supersonic doesn't it? And don't you want a sharper shape for supersonic flight?

Hummm, interesting but it looks extremly dodgy

Maybe. I'd say it looks  more catty. Boom-tish.

No, at the altitude that the SS2 is reaching Mach 1 at during ascent, atmospheric drag is minimal. On the way back, they want to maximize supersonic drag. Having the large round nose also minimizes TPS heating at the hottest point by spreading it out, so it likely won't need any exotic or ablative materials.

I like how they've increased the outboard horizontal stab area and span, that should mean much more stability (that roll problem will be eliminated), and I note that the wing seems more appropriate for supersonic flight as well.

[mlorrey]

publiusr - 5/4/2006  1:58 PM
Rutan really doesn't have any experience building large aircraft. It would be best if branson and t/Space split the cost of bringing finishing a second AN-225.

Hmmm... Voyager, Global Flyer: both aircraft with wingspans over 110 feet. Proteus and White Knight: wingspans of 85 and 93 feet.

Not huge planes, but not small either. I suspect what we wind up seeing from Rutan will be impressive.

[publiusr]

I don't go by wingspan, I go by mass. Rutan is good at building spindly. A true VLA is something else again. AN-225 is the way Branson should go. The existing AN-225 has been flying special cargo missions for quite some time.