Author Topic: Virgin Galactic and SpaceShipTwo Master Thread (1) (Read 255446 times)

kevin-rf · « **Reply #100 on:** 12/09/2009 01:45 pm »

Quote from: jabe on 12/09/2009 01:19 pm

my two cents worth...
If all goes well for them, I think suborbital research will be where the money is. I could see VSS Enterprise never being "glitzed up" for "tourists" but kept bare bones for research flights. 4 or so minutes of free fall sure beat 30 second spurts on the vomit comet particularly if the experiment takes "15 seconds" for the experiment to get up in running and stable.. not much time to see if it runs ok..
Going to be fun to watch..I hope they are successful and can do it quickly while the interest is high... time will tell...
jb

Though I don't disagree with you, the money for suborbital research has to be there. Is there enough of a suborbital research market now to make SS2 profitable? I suspect no, meaning they need other revenue streams, tourists $-)

bad_astra · « **Reply #101 on:** 12/09/2009 02:00 pm »

I don't think the 200,000 price will remain for long. Even if it does, there are two known competitors in the wings, one of whom, Xcor, will be flying not long after VG, the other Blue Origin, nobody knows.

I suspect though, that VG has done their homework, probably has at least SOME idea what Blue Origin plans to charge, and have an idea of their customer base. I doubt they'd be building a fleet if they didn't see the market.

blairf · « **Reply #102 on:** 12/09/2009 02:46 pm »

The business rationale for Vigin Galactic is far wider than space. Branson's game is ensuring that the 'Virgin' brand retains and grows its mojo. For the forseeable future his financial interests in airlines, media and telco will massively out weight space.

He put the 'Virgin Galactic' artwork on the F1 car not to drum up business for sub-orbital tourism, but to make sure everyone thinks 'cool, sexy, modern, exciting' when they see the Virgin logo.

Based on this Branson will quite happily see a degree of cross-subsidy to Galactic for many years to come. If it *actually* makes serious money I think he would probably be as surprised as anyone.

Robotbeat · « **Reply #103 on:** 12/09/2009 03:48 pm »

Quote from: blairf on 12/09/2009 02:46 pm

The business rationale for Vigin Galactic is far wider than space. Branson's game is ensuring that the 'Virgin' brand retains and grows its mojo. For the forseeable future his financial interests in airlines, media and telco will massively out weight space.

He put the 'Virgin Galactic' artwork on the F1 car not to drum up business for sub-orbital tourism, but to make sure everyone thinks 'cool, sexy, modern, exciting' when they see the Virgin logo.

Based on this Branson will quite happily see a degree of cross-subsidy to Galactic for many years to come. If it *actually* makes serious money I think he would probably be as surprised as anyone.

This is so true. Every "spaceflight participant" (or whatever they are called) will become an evangelist for your brand to their family and friends, without even trying. At the same time, I think that the people actually heading up Virgin Galactic want (and are working) to see it turn a healthy profit and expand beyond SS2. I think that Branson is thinking about a potential suborbital transportation market. If they switched to liquid fuels and used atmospheric skipping maneuvers, I'd imagine that this could be possible for, say, SpaceShipThree with one stage (not counting the carrier), especially considering the Isp boost of operating almost at vacuum. Of course, no one will actually use this to commute before there's a large suborbital safety record... hence SpaceShipTwo.

collectSPACE · « **Reply #104 on:** 12/09/2009 03:59 pm »

Virgin Galactic video news release

The rollout was quite the spectacle... and as cold as it was cool (and I was downright freezing...).

Quote from: Chris Bergin on 12/08/2009 12:48 pm

What on Earth does SS2 have to do with the Apollo missions?

Chris, while I too thought the initial inclusion of Apollo was going to be out of place, I got chills (and not just because of my aforementioned freezing) when Aldrin's call-outs from Eagle's descent were timed with White Knight Two and SpaceShipTwo taxiing down the runway towards us. It fit perfectly for the atmosphere of that moment.

Despite my numb fingers, I was able to capture a few photographs, which you can see here: http://www.collectspace.com/ss2_reveal

DiggyCoxwell · « **Reply #105 on:** 12/09/2009 05:56 pm »

Quote from: bad_astra on 12/09/2009 02:00 pm

I don't think the 200,000 price will remain for long.

Agreed, but..it's not just millionaires.
I know a couple of folks on this website
who have the bucks (even if its by mortgaging their house) and the will to go, maybe having even plunked
down a deposit on a passenger seat or two onboard the Enterprise..
One person who logs on here, initials JO, is a well-known space
activist and zealot whose written several books, but I don't know if he's
a millionaire or not.

My own bank account is pretty fat, and I come close to being able to afford it.
But I think a lottery system will make it accessible to everybody
with a few greenbacks to spare.
Maybe someone could email Gov Bill Richardson to set up such a lottery in NM?

jabe · « **Reply #106 on:** 12/09/2009 06:48 pm »

to tell you the truth..I'd pay $500 bucks just to go up on WK2 in the other side pod of white knight, for the two hour flight to 50,000 ft and sit and have a beer or two and watch SS2 launch and then have a fun ride home...

jb
edit:btw... I wonder what would happen on one of the sub orbital flights one of the passengers get sick... what a lousy way to spend weightlessness dodging awful bits...not even mentioning the smell... would they get a free flight? I'm assuming there is no bathroom on SS2

bad_astra · « **Reply #107 on:** 12/09/2009 06:50 pm »

Same here. I hope they make that an option.

jabe · « **Reply #108 on:** 12/09/2009 06:53 pm »

Come to think of it..those seats might be taken for future space tourists..but then again they do have two pods...

jb

bad_astra · « **Reply #109 on:** 12/09/2009 06:55 pm »

If there is room in SS2 to float around and have general microgravity fun, I wonder if wk2 could also offer some parabolic flights to give people a taste of it.

collectSPACE · « **Reply #110 on:** 12/09/2009 07:28 pm »

Quote from: bad_astra on 12/09/2009 06:55 pm

If there is room in SS2 to float around and have general microgravity fun, I wonder if wk2 could also offer some parabolic flights to give people a taste of it.

From Virgin Galactic's website:

"Despite its 140ft wingspan, [WhiteKnightTwo] is capable, not only of flying zero-g parabolas, but also of 6g turns. This combined with the fact that each fuselage is in effect a replica of the spaceship fuselage will allow passengers to experience and train in the typical g levels they will encounter during a SpaceShipTwo flight in a cabin that will look and feel like the spaceship cabin."

As for viewing SS2 launches from WK2, I believe Virgin said they planned to offer seats to SS2 passengers' family members who wanted to watch their loved ones take off for space.

docmordrid · « **Reply #111 on:** 12/09/2009 08:05 pm »

Sweetness

If I had the bux a ride on VSS Enterprise would definitely be on my bucket list.

collectSPACE · « **Reply #112 on:** 12/09/2009 10:04 pm »

Mention has been made of how windy the Mojave desert was on the evening of SpaceShipTwo's reveal. The wind was so strong that everyone needed to evacuate only an hour after a planned four-hour party had begun following the unveiling.

In this video from Virgin Galactic, you can see the aftermath:

Ben the Space Brit · « **Reply #113 on:** 12/10/2009 09:31 am »

Quote from: collectSPACE on 12/09/2009 10:04 pm

Mention has been made of how windy the Mojave desert was on the evening of SpaceShipTwo's reveal. The wind was so strong that everyone needed to evacuate only an hour after a planned four-hour party had begun following the unveiling.

I understand that the weather in the mid-West has been pretty fierce these last couple of days. I assume that these winds were anomalous. What are the conditions at Mojave like normally?

HMXHMX · « **Reply #114 on:** 12/10/2009 03:02 pm »

Quote from: Ben the Space Brit on 12/10/2009 09:31 am

Quote from: collectSPACE on 12/09/2009 10:04 pm
Mention has been made of how windy the Mojave desert was on the evening of SpaceShipTwo's reveal. The wind was so strong that everyone needed to evacuate only an hour after a planned four-hour party had begun following the unveiling.

I understand that the weather in the mid-West has been pretty fierce these last couple of days. I assume that these winds were anomalous. What are the conditions at Mojave like normally?

Windy.

Afternoon winds can be brutal. We do flight testing very early to get the calm. Ironically, the winds help with engine testing (reduces heard noise in town, for example).

We once lost a portion of a flat roof of an 85 foot tall high bay hangar to wind; it was built for 125 mph conditions. I'd never put up a tent...

New Scientist has more:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18252-burt-rutan-behind-the-scenes-at-spaceshiptwo-rollout.html

docmordrid · « **Reply #115 on:** 12/10/2009 05:08 pm »

Quote from: Ben the Space Brit on 12/10/2009 09:31 am

I understand that the weather in the mid-West has been pretty fierce these last couple of days. I assume that these winds were anomalous. What are the conditions at Mojave like normally?

Strong, but within our range of normality - which means it's not too unusual to have blizzards, thunder-snow or snownadoes (weak tornadoes in a snowstorm). Weather up here can be freaky & change fast as a female mind

aquarius · « **Reply #116 on:** 12/10/2009 06:31 pm »

I read somewhere that so far there have been 22 test flights of WK2. Is that a correct number?

Thanks.

DaveJes1979 · « **Reply #117 on:** 12/10/2009 07:41 pm »

Quote from: aquarius on 12/10/2009 06:31 pm

I read somewhere that so far there have been 22 test flights of WK2. Is that a correct number?

Thanks.

I don't know, but my guess is that they've finished flight testing for WK2 (at least, tests without SS2). It has made 2 airshow appearances so far, including an aerial demo at the Edwards AFB show a month ago that I was fortunate enough to get to see.

All I had to do was endure blistering High Desert heat for the day, on top of 3+ hours just getting out of the parking lot (a.k.a. lakebed).

collectSPACE · « **Reply #118 on:** 12/10/2009 10:23 pm »

Quote from: aquarius on 12/10/2009 06:31 pm

I read somewhere that so far there have been 22 test flights of WK2. Is that a correct number?

Scaled Composites' White Knight Two Flight Test Summaries:
http://www.scaled.com/projects/t1b/logs-WK2.htm

DaveJes1979 · « **Reply #119 on:** 12/11/2009 03:54 am »

Quote

All I had to do was endure blistering High Desert heat for the day, on top of 3+ hours just getting out of the parking lot (a.k.a. lakebed).

I forgot to post my boast in photographic form. Here is a photo I took of WK2 after it landed.

If you are a 3D geek like me, you can see more of the WK2 shots I took in stereo here
.

My only wish is that I had the opportunity to get shots of Space Ship 2, as well. I would have cut off my left hand for it.