Rutan expresses concerns about national space policy to House staffer

Winner of the Ansari X-Prize, the suborbital space pioneer of Scaled Composits Burt Rutan

Thomas M. Culligan
Legislative Assistant
Hon. Frank R. Wolf
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Tom,

I occasionally banter with my friend, Mike Griffin on subjects that include golf, the AGW scare and NASA policy. After sending him my latest tirade, he shared with me his recent letter to you regarding taxpayer-funded space research. I promised him that I would send you my thoughts on the debate, which follow:

From my past comments on NASA’s post-mid-70s manned space efficiencies/accomplishments, an observer might think that I would applaud a decision to turn this important responsibility over to commercial developers. However, he would be wrong.

No question, it would be good to see commercial companies quickly succeed at orbital access and to take that capability beyond low earth orbit. However, I am fearful that the commercial guys will fail; i.e. they will do little more in my remaining lifetime than NASA accomplished in 3.5 years with Gemini in the mid 1960s. That would be a very big mistake for America to make, as we move into an era of real competition in space exploration as well as risk the loss of our leadership in nearly every other technical discipline.

Mike Griffin’s excellent statement says it best; ‘I too want, in the strongest possible terms, to have government policies which serve to stimulate private development of space. But at the same time, I too am reluctant — with an analogy to instrument flying — to give up an airport where I know I can get in on the approach, for one where I might’.

What I would like to see is a decade or two of overlap – an initial push in the commercial arena of manned spaceflight (Development programs, not Research programs), while NASA flies risky new ideas (read, true Research programs, giving at least a chance of discovering an important new Breakthrough), and at the same time pushes the forefront of Exploration beyond the earth’s moon.

Imagine how much better America could motivate our youth if we were spending the billions of Stimulus Package money on making real progress in our efforts to someday colonize off the planet.

Two years after Neil and Buzz landed on the moon, America led the world in awarding PhDs in science/engineering/math. Today we are not even on the first or second page and most of our University’s technical graduates take their skills back to their own countries to compete with us. The motivation of our youth is the most important thing we do for our nation’s long-term security and prosperity. NASA’s role in that can be as critical as it was in the 60s if the taxpayers fund true Research and Exploration.

The attachment is a photo I took at the Shuttle STS-130 launch – Caption: ‘Reaction when told about the President’s NASA directive to abandon manned spaceflight’.

As always, I am ok with the distribution of my thoughts without limitation.

While I usually offer candid remarks at the drop of the hat, I am not interested in Congressional testimony, since under duress I occasionally have been known to blurt out the truth. I have no interest in being in the same room with John Holdren….. Taking a line from a very old play: ‘I must turn away, least I soil my hands with the blood of a fool’

Burt Rutan

"In 2010, Commericial Space takes off"

SpaceShipTwo - still being roughed out last September. Though tricked-out for a suborbital ballistic flight it would have been worthy of Admiral Alan Shepard (offering more than all the experience the first American in Space enjoyed in 1961 before commanding Apollo 14 a decade later). It is to be the world's first commercial spacecraft. Roll out for public unveiling is scheduled this coming week at Mojave.

Sam Howe Verhovek
POPSCI.com

For a traveler heading up the highway toward the Mojave Air and Space Port, in the desert 70 miles north of Los Angeles, the surroundings are ghostly. Silent 747s and DC-10 jumbo jets from defunct airlines, along with smaller 727s and DC-9s, some cut up or resting on pylons, are visible from miles away, looking frozen and forlorn. Parked along the road at the airport entrance is a 1962 Convair 990, which began its life as an American Airlines jet airliner. Now the wind whistles through its nacelles and birds nest in its wheel wells.

Mojave is a boneyard, a place where commercial airliners go to die. Yet on the day I visited last October, there was life in the wide blue sky overhead, and it was more striking than the sight of even the most modern airliner. I saw a kind of flying catamaran streaking from west to east. As it came into view, it looked like two business jets flying in formation and high-fiving each other. Closer, I saw twin fuselages joined by large, slightly tilted overhead wings, each with two quiet jet engines on the far side. I was watching the VMS Eve, the airborne launching pad for the smaller rocket ships that in the next few years, Virgin Galactic says, will begin taking paying passengers to space.

Read the Feature HERE.

SpaceShipTwo rollout

To create SpaceShipTwo, Burt Rutan translated the technical advances of SpaceShipOne into a craft designed for passenger comfort and everyday reliability.

An overview by Carl Hoffman in December's WIRED, ahead of this week's scheduled rollout of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.

Law change needed for Scotland spaceport

BBC - A change in the law is needed before Scotland can be considered as a launch site for commercial space flights, the head of Virgin Galactic has said.

The firm's president Will Whitehorn said locations in Scotland and Sweden were being considered as bases for Virgin's European operations.

But he said UK laws would have to be amended to allow flights to take place.

Mr. Whitehorn said UK ministers and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was currently looking at the issue.

Follow the story, HERE.

Burt Rutan talks about commercial Moon-orbit

"I want to see people flying their kids in space," the engineer said. "Kids should be inspired by phenomenal things that happen." He also said the space-tourist business should be based on volume. "(Volume) is the only thing that hasn't been done in space," he said. The visionary designer hopes such a volume business will fund his ultimate goal — an orbiting hotel. The hotel could provide shuttle trips to orbit the Moon at extremely low altitudes."

Read the Feature in "Astronomy,"
by executive editor Dick McNally

Abu Dhabi backs Space Tourism

Steven J. DuBord
The New American

Aabar Investments of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates agreed on July 28 to buy a 32 percent stake in Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism venture known as Virgin Galactic. The $280 million deal was inked on the grounds of the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual AirVenture fly-in event held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

WhiteKnightTwo, the specially designed aircraft that will carry Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft to high altitude and then launch it, had flown to the EAA convention and formed a suitable backdrop for the signing ceremony.

Read the feature HERE.

Virgin Galactic announces engine tests

Heads-Up to the essential Jeff Foust
Personal Spaceflight

"Virgin Galactic announced this morning that the company has successfully carried out its first full-scale engine tests for SpaceShipTwo. Virgin released a video featuring the tests along with a press release:"

"Neither the video nor the press release provide much in the way of technical details about the engine tests, other than the engine is the largest hybrid engine of its type ever. Both do play up the “low environmental impact” of this propulsion system, and the potential applications beyond space tourism for future space transportation systems using such technology. (Server farms in space?)"

"Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn is scheduled to speak later this morning at the International Space Development Conference in Orlando. I’ll be there and report on any other announcements or developments he provides there."

Personal Spaceflight Article HERE.

Whitehorn predicts point to point space flights

Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn has been making predictions about the future of travel this week. Doug Messier has the report at ParabolicArc

Glenys's $280,000 space flight

Sydney Morning Herald - Arjun Ramachandran

To celebrate her 60th birthday, neither a European holiday nor an African safari was exciting enough for Glenys Ambe.

Instead, she's booked to go to space.

Ms Ambe, 53, is the first Australian to buy a ticket on Virgin Galactic - Richard Branson's commercial space travel project - through a travel agent.

"I have always wanted to go up in space," she said. "The only day I wagged school in my whole life was when my father gave me permission ... the day they walked on the moon.

"I never thought [being able to go to space] would happen in my lifetime ... it's a dream and now I've got this dream that's coming true."

The "dream" cost Ms Ambe, who owns two fashion stores in Queensland, $US200,000 ($281,000).

But for those without the money, her experience will be as follows:

At a custom-built spaceport in New Mexico, Ms Ambe will be strapped into her seat on spacecraft SpaceShipTwo, which is attached to a specially-designed jet aircraft carrier.

The aircraft carrier will take off and in 45 minutes rise to 15,000 metres, when it will release the spacecraft.

In an instant, Ms Ambe will endure six G-forces for 90 seconds, as rockets propel the spacecraft vertically through the Earth's atmosphere.

"You are instantly pinned back into your seat, overwhelmed but enthralled by the howl of the rocket motor and eye-watering acceleration," Virgin Galactic says on its website.

The sky, visible through large windows, will quickly change from blue, to mauve, indigo and finally black, and then there will be silence, as the rocket motors are switched off.

At a peak altitude of 110 kilometres, Ms Ambe will now experience weightlessness. She will be free to unbuckle her seatbelt, float about the craft and and view the Earth and outer space from a window.

After four minutes Ms Ambe will return to her seat, and will soon feel the G-forces again as the craft re-enters the atmosphere, and then glides 45 minutes to land at the spaceport again.

The entire trip will be about two hours

Read the Article HERE.

Mojave: Where the Old Frontier Meets the Space Frontier

By Mark Madler

San Fernando Valley Business Journal

"It’s where civilians learn to fly at the National Test Pilot School and where the WhiteKnightTwo makes its test flights in anticipation of the day it takes paying customers of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo into space.

“What you get in Mojave is a group of dreamers who take their destiny into their own hands,” observed Rick Tumlinson, founder of Orbital Outfitters, a North Hollywood firm developing and making spacesuits for the NewSpace market.

"The airport is comparable in size to LAX and has runways long enough to handle the passenger jets flown in for temporary storage or put up on blocks and stripped for their parts. More than 40 businesses call it home, some mundane as a car rental agency or UPS facility.

"In the aerospace arena, rocket developers and aircraft storage and maintenance are found alongside advanced avionics companies and compositors who can turn materials into aircraft wings or windmill blades. Global defense contractors BAE Systems Inc. and Northrop Grumman share the airport with fledgling startups funded by savings accounts and credit cards."

Read the Article HERE.

Branson denies problems with WhiteKnightTwo

Flight International has reported that WhiteKnightTwo, the mother ship, ran into trouble when making a series of ariel manouveurs.

WhiteKnightTwo is being used to carry SpaceShipTwo, the rocket which will take passengers into space.

The journal cited an unnamed source as providing the information about the supposed difficulties during the test flight at the Mohave Desert in California.

It claimed that Peter Siebold, the test pilot, was unable to keep the aircraft on the runway.

But this was denied by Will Whitehorn, Virgin Galactic's president.

"There are no issues we know of at all at this stage which will affect the programme or the overall design. It is beyond ridiculous," he said. "There is no problem with the flight."

"It was a highly successful test flight and everything is going to plan.," said Mr Whitehorn...

Read more HERE.

WhiteKnightTwo Maiden Flight a "Big Day"

Designed by Scaled Composites, the huge and unique WhiteKnightTwo mothership rolled down the runway and muscled itself into the air using four Pratt and Whitney PW308A turbofan engines. The WhiteKnightTwo flew for about an hour, departing the runway at roughly 8:17 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, safely touching down at the Mojave Air and Space Port at approximately 9:17 a.m. PST.

"It's a big day," said Stuart Witt, general manager of Mojave Air and Space Port. "I think it's a real reflective time. When everybody's looking for a bailout, there are still people that are doing something for a much larger reason," he told SPACE.com.

After a number of shakeout flights, the WhiteKnightTwo is to be outfitted with the now-under-construction SpaceShipTwo. That rocket plane is also being built by Scaled Composites of Mojave, California. Ultimately WhiteKnightTwo is to carry the space plane to altitude, where it will then detach and head for suborbital space flights.

The WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo combo is to serve as the backbone of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceline operations.

Read more HERE.

Patterns

It takes little discernment to see when certain patterns are emerging in NewSpace.

Just as reaffirmations recently of ESA's Spaceplane plans from 2005, the confident expansion of Virgin Galactic to Spaceport Sweden and further affirmation of Richard Branson's intentions to launch suborbital tourism very soon, by way of Scaled Composites' SpaceShip Two from Spaceport America, it's dawning upon even casual observers that, barring catastrophe, a new generation of Alan Shepherds will soon be claiming credit for traveling higher than 100 kilometers to experience freefall, and a relatively brief period of "zero gravity."

The days of the "vomit comet" may be coming to an end, except for those unable to pay the first hefty fares, for a suborbital arc. Personal space travel, such as it is, may soon become ordinary, and for hundreds of thousands.

ESA's Hermes may lead to the beginning of a permanent presence of that agency in Russia and cooperative development of Klipr, which may be a small commercial Orbiter and soon world's avenue to ISS, as successor to Progress-M, and before Orion is launched by NASA.

Meanwhile, the past few weeks have seen more than one nation sending out word canvassing interest in their astronaut corps. First, the U.K., after a long period of austerity, has had their own floating of the idea turn up 50,000 preliminary applications, and NASA is still accepting applications. Now JAXA has made the news.

AFP reports: Japan on Tuesday began recruiting astronauts for the first time in a decade in the wake of a successful mission to carry Japan's maiden space laboratory to the International Space Station.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will pick three candidates using screening procedures such as aptitude tests, medical checks and interviews.

JAXA said it would announce its selections in February 2009.

The successful candidates will take various training programmes at NASA for two years before being certified as astronauts.

Three out of 864 applicants passed astronaut certification during the agency's last recruitment in 1998 and 1999.

Japan has an increasingly ambitious space programme. The US space shuttle Endeavour returned on March 26 after beginning to set up Japan's first space laboratory, "Kibo."

With its installation, Japan gains a foothold on the International Space Station alongside the United States, Russia and Europe.

(ESA also indicates Japan may partner with that agency and the Russians on Klipr, perhaps explaining why JAXA gave up plans for its own space plane some time ago.)

Read more HERE.

Spaceport Sweden reaches agreement with Virgin Galactic

Investment in future of sub-orbital tourism spreads to ESA's front yard.

SpaceBank: Esrange Space Centre: Senior representatives from Spaceport Sweden and Virgin Galactic have presented their latest progress towards commercial spaceflights for private space tourists.

The press conference was opened by Dr. Olle Norberg , the initiator and chairman of Spaceport Sweden. After had welcomed everyone he handed over to Mr. Sven Grahn, senior advisor (and Blogger) at the Swedish Space Corporation, who presented his work related to the establishment of Spaceport Sweden.

"We have studied very practical matters such as, for example, the suitability of the available infrastructure in Kiruna spaceship when operating in , the weather conditions, the possible flight profile for Virgin Galactic at Kiruna, any additional infrastructure that may be needed, the regulatory framework in Sweden and Europe for personal spaceflight and a host of other matters," said Grahn.

"We have not encountered any major obstacles along the way and don't expect to. Our next step will be to keep working on regulatory matters, and further defining the way we take care of space travellers and any additional infrastructure that may be needed."

Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic, talked about the challenge and necessity of designing totally new and energy efficient techniques to access space, which will help to transform the applications of space at a time when civilization needs all the technological help it can get. He also explained VG's vision of not only offering spaceflights to the general public but also of developing a launch vehicle that could be part of a longer term development program involving space science, payload deployment and potentially other applications yet to be defined.

"A significant factor of working together with Spaceport Sweden is that, in common with Spaceport America in New Mexico which will be our primary operating base, they can, as and when we are able to operate outside the US, offer much more that just a spaceport for space tourism," he said. "I'm not just thinking about the unique adventures one can enjoy in the Kiruna area, but also the long experience that Spaceport Sweden has in space science with sounding rockets."

"They've been in this business since 1966 and have the experience, knowledge and infrastructure needed to launch and communicate with experiments performed in space in real time. This really matches our vision of making further use of the new technology developed by Burt Rutan at Scaled Composites in California."

Read more HERE.

SpaceShipTwo: Behind the Scenes

POPULAR MECHANICS
May 2008

By Joe Pappalardo

In a nondescript hangar in California’s Mojave Desert, workers at Scaled Composites are assembling SpaceShipTwo, the first spacecraft expressly designed for tourists. The company, which is owned by engineer Burt Rutan, is also building the four-engine plane that will ferry the spaceship to 50,000 ft. After SpaceShipTwo is released from the mother ship, the six passengers will be treated to a Mach 3 burn, straight up, propelled by a mix of nitrous oxide and solid fuel. Then, once the ship crests at 361,000 ft., passengers can float to the windows and gawk for a few minutes before returning to Earth. Spaceship test flights may start in 2009.

See more HERE.