When I was up in Mojave on Friday, I was told of a rumor that there might be a mated flight of Eve/Enterprise (test vehicles for WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo) for the first time that day. It turned out to be false, but they flew today.
16 thoughts on “First Captive Carry”
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A plane flew… yawn.
Sorry, it’s just that I’ve heard this news 20 times this morning and I can’t really see what’s so exciting about it. WK2 has already flown.. a lot. So what’s new is that they’ve taken the completely empty SS2 and connected it underneath.. great. I mean, obviously this test flight needed to be done, but this isn’t the news I’m waiting for. The news I’m waiting for is: the rocket is ready.
I didn’t say there was anything exciting about it. I was just reporting completion of a program milestone.
I know Rand, it’s not you, it’s the widespread buzz… ohhh.. Virgin Galactic did something! Tell everyone!! Doesn’t really matter what they’ve done.
It is nice that they are doing tests of the whole thing. There is no reason to think they will not be able to do this. I mean they did WK1+SS1.
It got delayed plenty after the rocket engine problems. However their schedules seem to be converging now. I think it was a good idea for them to try to do the rocket in-house, but it was always a risk. Their expertise is mostly in airframe design. They also chose to develop a hybrid engine, which not that many people manage to get working well.
Hopefully they will help open up the suborbital market and make it possible for people to make money doing rockets for things other than horribly expensive orbital launches.
Hey, every step is one step closer to commercial human space flight (for everyone). What’s the major malfunction with you dudes?
We should be encouraging this. I, for one, plan to faint in just a moment… Well, maybe that’s a little over the top, but given the fact that any number of things could have stopped them (like the purchase of Scaled by NGC), I would think people would be applauding.
This project is far closer to economic reality (i.e. far less subsidized) than that other NewSpace darling, SpaceX. So it’s worth celebrating quite a bit more than the equivalent SpaceX milestone.
They also chose to develop a hybrid engine, which not that many people manage to get working well.
Its not like there are that many people around getting solids and liquids working well, either. ( At least in the size categories spoken about here )
Theres so little rocket vehicle development going on, especially manned rocket vehicle, that the design and trade space is really not explored at all. Hybrids may yet turn out to be the most viable mode for manned suborbital lift. Or not.
uhhhhhhhhh.. I haven’t heard any evidence, from anywhere, that they are making significant progress on the rocket. There’s been no reports of static tests.. no videos of hot flamey stuff.. nothing. For a company that makes fanfare out of unveiling an empty airframe, that’s a little odd don’t you think?
I’ve wondered before if, at some point, they’re going to chuck the hybrid and ask the parent company (Northrup Grumman) if they can rustle up a nice bi-prop instead. Scaled is an airplane company, they shouldn’t be ashamed to admit they can’t do rockets too.
Trent: Scaled changed their mind on doing it in house after there was a pressure explosion during a fueling test that resulted in a couple of fatalities. Now it is being done by Sierra Nevada Corporation. There was a press release on a rocket motor test in May last year:
http://www.scaled.com/news/
MfK: Yeah I also feared that Northrop Grumman acquisition would bungle up everything. Good to see they still allow them to work on this properly.
Godzilla, thanks, I have no idea why I wasn’t aware of this.
Perhaps because the links provided in the press release no longer exist and the youtube videos have been removed.
I have really mixed feelings on this. Spacex is cash flow positive and building an orbital vehicle, almost all the cash is tainted with the NASA/GOV mindset.
Virgin is privately funded and could have a going business,
yet their vehicle has a factor of 25 performance deficit to be able to get to LEO. I see it more as an expensive roller coaster ride. You peek at space you don’t visit it.
We may see this resolved with a dark horse like Blueorigin or Bigallow
It made for a cool picture at the very least.
“Theres so little rocket vehicle development going on, especially manned rocket vehicle, that the design and trade space is really not explored at all. Hybrids may yet turn out to be the most viable mode for manned suborbital lift. Or not.”
“Spacex is cash flow positive and building an orbital vehicle, almost all the cash is tainted with the NASA/GOV mindset.”
“Virgin is privately funded and could have a going business,
yet their vehicle has a factor of 25 performance deficit to be able to get to LEO.”
“We may see this resolved with a dark horse like Blueorigin or Bigallow”
…which all suggests to me that, because of the free market and many businesses trying many different approaches, we may hopefully, finally, at last, start to see the space development I dreamed was a sure thing when I was a kid.
Do we know if VSS Enterprise is able to withstand and be safe at the conditions of ‘orbital’ as opposed to ‘suborbital’? That is: if it got there somehow would it maintain attitude control and pressure?
I would love it if some company jumped suborbital and started offering seats to orbit.
if it got there somehow would it maintain attitude control and pressure?
Most likely, for a while. But it would not withstand reentry.