Pomerantz at the Virgin Galactic premier

William Pomerantz, Senior Director Space Prizes, X PRIZE Foundation at Virgin Galactic's unveiling of the VSS Enterprise; Mojave, December 7, 2009

Branson wants to fly customers to the moon

John Gapper
FT.com/gapperblog

Richard Branson is an ambitious man. Ask him about the potential for his Virgin Galactic business – as I did at the unveiling of his space capsule in the Mojave desert in California on Monday – and he does not hold back.

Virgin Galactic has ordered five vehicles that can take six passengers into sub-orbital flight about 110km above the earth’s surface at a time. But Sir Richard thinks that, in 10 years’ time, it could have 40 of the six-passenger craft flying twice a day each.

And that is only the start: Jump HERE.

Richardson speaks out on Commercial Space

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson

Jeff Foust
Space Politics

Yesterday’s rollout of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo vehicle featured appearances by two sitting governors: Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Bill Richardson of New Mexico. However, there wasn’t much in the way of politics at the event other than a brief statement by Richardson, echoing something he said over a year ago:

Read Jeff's Post HERE.

Space Ship Two Gallery

Space Ship Two, "Unveiled at last." Hat tip to Rob Coppinger at Hyperbola for sharing "Pictures: Virgin Galactic releases SpaceShipTwo images, with the promise of more to come.

"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.

Ottawa space reservation

Peter Rakobowchuk
The Canadian Press

"After studying space physics and learning how to fly, John Criswick's childhood dream of becoming an astronaut was shattered in 1992 when he did not get selected by the Canadian Space Agency."

"Criswick was the first Canadian among the 300 astronauts who have already made reservations for a trip into sub-orbital space on board SpaceShipTwo."

Read the article 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.

LauncherOne: Virgin Galactic aiming for the unmanned launch business, with Surrey Satellite Technologies

Johnathan Amos
Spaceman Blog
BBC NEWS

You are going to hear a lot in the next few weeks about Virgin Galactic, not least because on 7 December the company will unveil SpaceShipTwo in the Mojave Desert, California.

I want to concentrate on another Galactic project which is now gathering pace - the LauncherOne satellite system.

Back in January, I reported on early discussions between the Branson outfit and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in Guildford.

SSTL is a world leader in the production of low-cost small satellites, and it was keen to explore the possibility of working with Virgin Galactic on a way to get these spacecraft into orbit much more cheaply than is currently possible.

The concept would be somewhat similar to the US Pegasus system, which uses a former airliner to lift a booster to 40,000ft, before releasing it to make its own way into space.

Virgin Galactic's aim is to provide an air-launched system which is faster, cheaper, and more flexible.

It would use SpaceShipTwo's mothership, "Eve", as the launch platform.

Read the Post, HERE.

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.

Satellite delivery, a new Virgin Galactic ambition

Paul Marks
New Scientist

"Virgin Galactic now plans to launch satellites as well as tourists into space, the company confirmed at this week's International Astronautical Congress in Daejeon, South Korea."

Read the story, HERE.

Grumbling over sub-orbital tourism delays

From Lunar Pioneer

Heath Haussamen
New Mexico Independent

It’s been five years since SpaceShipOne won the first Ansari X Prize and proved that commercial vehicles have a future in outer space. But the move to actually commercialize space hasn’t been as quick as those trying to make it happen predicted.

The Associated Press takes a look at that reality in a new article featuring “daredevil venture capitalist” Alan Walton who says he’s about ready to ask for his money back if there’s no set launch date by next April, when he turns 74.

“This was going to be the highlight of my old age,” the AP quoted Walton, one of hundreds of people who “plunked down” the $200,000 to be among the first space tourists on a Virgin Galactic spaceship.

When Virgin officials and the state of New Mexico came together to announce a partnership to turn the commercial space industry into a reality, they estimated commercial flights beginning in 2007 in California and moving to Spaceport America as soon as the New Mexico facility was ready in 2008.

Clearly, that hasn’t happened. Commercial flights in California haven’t started yet, as Virgin has experienced as many delays in building its craft as New Mexico officials have had in building the spaceport.

Read the feature story, HERE.

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.

Mainer paying to fly in space

A self-proclaimed "space nut" from Belgrade Lakes is paying $200,000 to be rocketed 80 miles into space.

Stephen LaVerdiere says in Friday's Morning Sentinel of Waterville that he'll be the first native Mainer to fly into outer space, which is defined as an altitude of over 62 miles.

The 59-year-old LaVerdiere is scheduled to take his ride of a lifetime on the rocket ship SpaceShipTwo as part of a space tourism venture developed by Virgin Galactic. It'll be launched from a huge carrier craft that will leave from the Mojave Desert in California. About 100 people are signed up for the flight sometime next year.

LaVerdiere, the former owner of a Maine drug store chain, is a pilot who dreamed as a child of becoming an astronaut. --- Boston.com

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.

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.