Guess what guys, Virgin Galactic might just be airborne as early as christmas 2013, all things being equal. Branson in a recent trip to Dubai stated that "the first public Virgin Galactic flight would happen Dec. 25".
Lets get some facts about this mission and what it all entails.
29.04.13 - Today, Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi’s aabar Investments PJS, completed the first rocket-powered flight of its space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo (SS2). The test, conducted by teams from Scaled Composites (Scaled) and Virgin Galactic, officially marks Virgin Galactic’s entrance into the final phase of vehicle testing prior to commercial service from Spaceport America in New Mexico.
“The first powered flight of Virgin Spaceship Enterprise was without any doubt, our single most important flight test to date,” said Virgin Galactic Founder Sir Richard Branson, who was on the ground in Mojave to witness the occasion. “For the first time, we were able to prove the key components of the system, fully integrated and in flight. Today’s supersonic success opens the way for a rapid expansion of the spaceship’s powered flight envelope, with a very realistic goal of full space flight by the year’s end. We saw history in the making today and I couldn’t be more proud of everyone involved.”
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About Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic, owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and aabar Investments PJS , is on track to be the world’s first commercial spaceline. To date, the company has accepted more than $70 million in deposits from approximately 580 individuals, which is approximately 10% more than the total number of people who have ever gone to space. The new spaceship (SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise) and carrier craft (WhiteKnightTwo, VMS Eve) have both been developed for Virgin Galactic’s vehicle fleet by Mojave-based Scaled Composites . Founded by Burt Rutan, Scaled developed SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 claimed the $10 million Ansari X Prize as the world’s first privately developed manned spacecraft. Virgin Galactic’s new vehicles, which will be manufactured by Virgin Galactic in Mojave, Calif., share much of the same basic design, but are being built to carry six customers, or the equivalent scientific research payload, on suborbital space flights. The vehicles will allow an out-of-the-seat, zero-gravity experience with astounding views of the planet from the black sky of space for tourist astronauts and a unique microgravity platform for researchers. The VSS Enterprise and VMS Eve test flight program is well under way, leading to Virgin Galactic commercial operations, which will be based at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Concept of Operations
Optimize your mission performance
A major advantage of LauncherOne is that, thanks to WhiteKnightTwo, we can stage operations from a wide variety of launch sites. Tailored selection of the launch site based on the requirements of each specific mission will allow our customers to truly optimize performance and to get the most possible value out of their satellite’s ride to space.
In the near term, WhiteKnightTwo will be based at Spaceport America, which we are happy and proud to call the home of our suborbital program. After coordinating with the customer and with regulatory bodies like the FAA, WhiteKnightTwo will fly out to the customer’s desired launch facility and conduct operations from there. Our system allows for a minimal amount of ground infrastructure and the minimum level of range costs for our customers.
For the foreseeable future, LauncherOne operations will be conducted from the United States. To stage operations elsewhere, such as the proposed Spaceport Abu Dhabi, would require various regulatory licenses.
WhiteKnightTwo is an all-composite, high-altitude, heavy-lift aircraft initially designed for carrying SpaceShipTwo. The first WhiteKnightTwo, Eve, is fully constructed and is nearing the end of her flight test program, as she approaches her 100th test flight. WhiteKnightTwo already has a proven capability for rapid call up and launch-on-demand, having successfully completed captive carry missions with SpaceShipTwo with turnarounds as quick as twenty-four hours.
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LauncherOne stages and shroud, including structures, engines, and Launch Vehicle/Pylon Interface, will be manufactured at The Spaceship Company’s FAITH production facility. Other components, such as avionics and secondary subsystems will be delivered to the production facility by world-class suppliers.
If appropriate, based on mission-specific requirements, LauncherOne’s first and second stages will be mated, checked out, and shipped to the primary staging base (or any other known forward staging base) for storage. LauncherOne can be stored unfueled, with fully charged batteries to support avionics operations, until WhiteKnightTwo and the customer’s spacecraft arrive. Alternatively, the customer’s payload can be integrated at a central Virgin Galactic facility such as FAITH, or even “bolted-on” at the launch site shortly before take-off.
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At the designated point in space and time, LauncherOne will be released from WhiteKnightTwo at an altitude of approximately 50,000 feet above mean sea level. LauncherOne will free fall for approximately four seconds before the first stage ignites. The two stages operate in sequence, with the potential for the second stage to relight, and the payload is delivered to a designated low-earth orbit.
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For more info, log on to http://www.virgingalactic.com
Source: Virgin Galactic
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