Virgin Galactic
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| Virgin Galactic | |
|---|---|
| Image:Virgin Galactic.png | |
| Type | Private |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Headquarters | New Mexico, USA |
| Key people | Richard Branson(UK) Will Whitehorn |
| Industry | space tourism |
| Products | space tourism |
| Owner | Virgin Group |
| Employees | 30 |
| Slogan | Space is Virgin territory |
| Website | www.virgingalactic.com |
Virgin Galactic is a company within Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which plans to offer sub-orbital spaceflights and later orbital spaceflights to the paying public.
Contents |
[edit] Mission
Virgin Galactic's mission is to fly passengers who are not professional astronauts to an altitude slightly over 100 kilometers (62 mi) and allow them to experience weightlessness for up to 6 minutes. Each seat will be sold for US$200,000.[1][2] According to Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn, the company had sold nearly 200 seats as of November 2007.[3] The first flight is planned for 2009.
Virgin Galactic is aiming to be the first space tourism company specializing in the provision of sub-orbital flights to the public. This is a new area. While orbital flights can be made by budding space tourists through the Russian Space Agency, there are presently no operational craft capable of sub-orbital flight aside from SpaceShipOne. However, EADS are currently working on a competing sub-orbital craft. Given that SpaceShipOne was designed for a very specific task, Virgin Galactic have commissioned Burt Rutan to design a newer, bigger and better version of his suborbital craft, called SpaceShipTwo. It is this eight seater craft, seating 2 pilots and 6 passengers, which will be used by Virgin Galactic passengers.
[edit] Spacecraft
- See also: Scaled Composites
[edit] Development of SpaceShipTwo
After talks throughout 2004, on September 24 2004 Virgin Galactic signed a deal worth up to US$21 million with Mojave Aerospace Ventures to license the patents behind the Tier One project for purposes of space tourism. The deal was announced by Branson and Burt Rutan on September 27 2004 at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London. The initial plan is for Rutan to design and build five suborbital tourist craft based on a scaled-up version of SpaceShipOne. Construction began in 2005, with twelve to eighteen months of intensive testing (comprising at least 50-100 test flights) planned. Actual spaceflights for ordinary citizens are expected to begin on the SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise in Upham, New Mexico soon after. It is unknown whether a recent explosion which took place at Scaled Composites will affect the date of the maiden flight.[4][5]
[edit] General overview of the spacecraft flights
It is planned that the spacecraft are to be robust and affordable enough to take paying passengers. The craft is projected to be a six passenger, two pilot craft.[1] It is planned to make suborbital flights, with a short period of weightlessness. The time from liftoff of the White Knight II booster carrying SpaceShipTwo until the touchdown of SpaceShipTwo after the suborbital flight will be about 2.5 hours. The suborbital flight itself will only be a small fraction of that time. The weightlessness will last approximately 6 minutes.[2] Passengers will be able to release themselves from their seats during these 6 minutes and float around the cabin.[1]
[edit] SpaceShipTwo's performance
SpaceShipTwo will fly a little higher than SpaceShipOne, to a height of 110 km in order to go beyond the defined boundary of space (100 km) and lengthen the experience of weightlessness.[1] The spacecraft will reach around Mach 3 (1000 m/s), which is slightly faster than current fighter jets are capable of attaining, however the spacecraft will not be able to sustain that speed for long periods of time. The craft thus has a very limited cross-range capability and therefore has to land in the area where it started.
[edit] Competition
There are numerous other companies actively working on commercial passenger suborbital spaceflight (see: Private spaceflight). Virgin Galactic's most likely competitors include EADS Astrium, Rocketplane Kistler, Space Adventures, and Benson Space Company.
In addition, an international architectural competition was held for the design of the Virgin Galactic Spaceport in New Mexico. The contract was awarded to Foster + Partners architects.[6]
[edit] See also
- Space tourism
- Space Adventures
- Space colonization
- Commercial Astronaut
- Space Tourism Society
- List of private spaceflight companies
- Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "http://www.virgingalactic.com/htmlsite/faq.php".
- ^ a b "http://www.soultek.com/space_privatization/Virgin_Galactic_Captain_Kirk_and_spaceshipone.htm".
- ^ Spaceflights now for sale; scary part is price. Seattle Post-Intelligencer (November 14, 2007).
- ^ "http://www.virgingalactic.com/htmlsite/overview.php".
- ^ "http://spaceports.blogspot.com/2006/09/virgin-galactic-readies-tourist.html".
- ^ http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/1613/Default.aspx
[edit] External links
[edit] Affiliated corporations
- Official web site
- Scaled composites
- XPRIZE foundation which launched the Ansari X Prize
[edit] News articles
- [1]Travel agent chose to sell Virgin Galactic.
- Virgin Galactic:Let the Journey Begin (Video) Take a journey on the next generation of space travel.
- CNN.com article "Now Virgin to offer trips to space"
- SpaceDaily article "Branson And Rutan Launch New Spaceship Manufacturing Company"
- The Register article "Virgin to offer space flights"
- BBC News article "Virgin boss in space tourism bid"
- BBC News article "Virgin Galactic: The logical next step"
- CNN.com article "Shatner aims for real 'Star Trek'
- The Economist article "One small step for space tourism..."
- BBC News article "Virgin soars towards new frontier"
- The Space Review article "Virgin Galactic and the future of commercial spaceflight" (May 23, 2005)
- Screen captures from promotional video
- SPACE.com U.S. Okays Virgin Galactic Spaceship Plans (15 August 2005)
- Branson looks at Space Coast for another spaceport (Florida Today)
- New Mexico Spaceport Bills Signed (March 1, 2006)
- Article on space tourism with latest predictions about the Virgin Galactic experience
- Virgin Atlantic Pilots offered chance to become Astronauts (March 30, 2006)
- Lloyds Eyes Covering Virgin Spaceflights (April 5, 2006)
- Virgin flights to target Aurora Borealis (April 9, 2006)
- Scotland lined up for space launch (April 9, 2006)
- Space tourism: ready for the masses? 20 June 2006
- No Free Ride for Space Tourists 29 January, 2007
- HighBeam Research: Officials near spaceport deal with Virgin Galactic. (From: Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, NM) March 23, 2007)
The Spaceship Company | ||
|---|---|---|
| Companies | Virgin Galactic (Virgin Group) · Scaled Composites (Northrop Grumman) · Mojave Aerospace Ventures | Image:SpaceShipOne Nose.jpg |
| People | Richard Branson · Burt Rutan · Paul Allen · Mike Melvill · Brian Binnie | |
| Ships | SpaceShipOne · White Knight · SpaceShipTwo · White Knight Two · SpaceShipThree | |
| Sequence | Tier One ( 11P · 13P · 14P · 15P · 16P · 17P ) · Tier 1b · Tier Two | |
| Places | Mojave Spaceport · Spaceport America · Spaceport Sweden | |
| See also... | Ansari X Prize · Kármán line · Other companies · Space tourism · Sub-orbital spaceflight· Suborbital spaceplane | |
Space tourism | ||
|---|---|---|
| Major private companies | Bigelow Aerospace · Blue Origin · EADS Astrium · Rocketplane · Space Adventures · Scaled Composites · The Spaceship Company · Virgin Galactic | Image:NASA astronaut with for sale sign on EVA - to retrieve sattlite.jpg |
| Organizations | ARCASPACE · LiftPort Group · Personal Spaceflight Federation · Space Tourism Society · Association of Autonomous Astronauts | |
| Successful spacecraft | SpaceShipOne · Genesis I · Genesis II | |
| Living in space | Space station · Space habitat · Space colonization · Commercialization of space · Suborbital spaceplane | |
| Historical events | First tourists · Ansari X Prize | |
Virgin Group | |
|---|---|
| General | Active · Cinemas · Credit Card · Digital · Drinks · Electronics · Experience Days · Fuel · Green Fund · Media (Media Television) · Mobile · Money · Unite (charity) · Vie · Vodka · Voucher · Wines/Vines |
| Travel | AirAsia X • America · Atlantic · Balloon Flights · Blue (Pacific Blue, Polynesian Blue, V Australia) · Express · Galactic · Holidays · Limited Edition (hotels) · Limobike · Limousines · Nigeria · Trains · Vacations |
| Publishing and entertainment | Artemis Records · Books · Comics · Interactive · Music · Oüı FM · Play · Radio Asia · Radio Free · Records · V2 Records · V Festivals (Australia, North America, UK) |
| Retail | Brides · Cars · Megastores · Spa · Ware |
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