White Knight Two, a flying launch pad meant to support passenger sub-orbital space travel, made its public debut here Monday JULY 28 2008. The roll-out of the composite plane marks the completion of the first phase of a programme aimed at establishing a space-liner business.
The Virgin Galactic venture is funded by British entrepreneur and billionaire, Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Group.
White Knight Two
The Virgin Galactic venture is funded by British entrepreneur and billionaire, Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Group.
White Knight Two
The most immediate difference between White Knight Two and its predecessor is that of sheer size. With a 140 foot wingspan, roughly equivalent to that of a B-29 bomber, this will be the largest all-composite aircraft ever built. In addition, Rutan believes that WK2's single main wingspar is the largest single composite piece ever made for an aircraft, dwarfing the largest components on both the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787.
The flight simulator for WK2 has been built and is fully operational. Pilots that have flown the simulator are reporting spectacular power and performance from the airplane's four Pratt and Whitney PW308A engines.
White Knight Two features a twin-boom, twin-cabin layout the design of which was a natural development from the requirement to carry a large unde
r slung payload. The left hand cabin will mimic that of SpaceShipTwo, with a forward flight deck and passenger cabin behind. The right hand cabin contains no flight deck, and can be configured for a variety of purposes. Potential uses include a training cabin to expose future spaceship passengers to the G-loads of their upcoming space flight; a passenger cabin so friends and family can watch the rocket launches of their loved ones; and as a scientific laboratory for high altitude or microgravity experiments.
The mothership is capable of carrying other high-altitude payloads beyond SpaceShipTwo. Potential uses include the ability to use WK2 to launch small satellites into orbit, something that could dramatically reduce the cost of such endeavors, compared to existing methods using rockets or the Space Shuttle. Rutan has calculated that it is theoretically possible to use WK2 to place a single human passenger into orbit.
Four turbofan jet engines power the White Knight Two, an aircraft that has more capability than needed for Space Ship Two operations.The plane had undergone extensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) testing. CFD makes electronic wind tunnel evaluations as compared to the older form of wind tunnel testing.
Volume
The flight simulator for WK2 has been built and is fully operational. Pilots that have flown the simulator are reporting spectacular power and performance from the airplane's four Pratt and Whitney PW308A engines.
White Knight Two features a twin-boom, twin-cabin layout the design of which was a natural development from the requirement to carry a large unde
r slung payload. The left hand cabin will mimic that of SpaceShipTwo, with a forward flight deck and passenger cabin behind. The right hand cabin contains no flight deck, and can be configured for a variety of purposes. Potential uses include a training cabin to expose future spaceship passengers to the G-loads of their upcoming space flight; a passenger cabin so friends and family can watch the rocket launches of their loved ones; and as a scientific laboratory for high altitude or microgravity experiments.The mothership is capable of carrying other high-altitude payloads beyond SpaceShipTwo. Potential uses include the ability to use WK2 to launch small satellites into orbit, something that could dramatically reduce the cost of such endeavors, compared to existing methods using rockets or the Space Shuttle. Rutan has calculated that it is theoretically possible to use WK2 to place a single human passenger into orbit.
Four turbofan jet engines power the White Knight Two, an aircraft that has more capability than needed for Space Ship Two operations.The plane had undergone extensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) testing. CFD makes electronic wind tunnel evaluations as compared to the older form of wind tunnel testing.
Volume
The volumes and the numbers of passengers expected to make a trip into space. Virgin Galactic has ordered five spaceships with options for seven more,. The system has been designed to accommodate multiple launches per day. Within the first twelve years of operations, the system has capacity to take 100,000 passengers, with the peak rate being achieved five to seven years after the first commercial flights.
Astronauts
Astronauts
Virgin Galactic has received deposits from 200 astronauts totaling over $30 million. Ticket price is currently $200,000, although as passenger volumes increase, the goal is to dramatically reduce this price to make spaceflight affordable to the maximum number of people.
Virgin Galactic is challenging the widely held belief that astronauts need to be "superhuman" in terms of health and fitness. Eighty ordinary people have undergone medical tests and centrifuge training, to ensure they are capable of making the flight into space (which involves loadings of 3.5G on the way up and 6G on the way down). 93 percent of those applicants passed the tests, with the oldest being 88 years of age. Richard Branson's father intends to fly in space at age 92!
Safety
Virgin Galactic is challenging the widely held belief that astronauts need to be "superhuman" in terms of health and fitness. Eighty ordinary people have undergone medical tests and centrifuge training, to ensure they are capable of making the flight into space (which involves loadings of 3.5G on the way up and 6G on the way down). 93 percent of those applicants passed the tests, with the oldest being 88 years of age. Richard Branson's father intends to fly in space at age 92!
Safety
The team is devoting significant efforts to making this a safe program. As an airline operator, the Virgin group has a deep commitment to safety, and believes that for Virgin Galactic to be successful, it will need to achieve a level of safety "hundreds of times better" than the record that established by government space flights.
A Unique project
A Unique project
This has been a unique project for Scaled Composites, which is more used to making one-off, rapid prototypes for R&D purposes rather than producing a complete production program for passenger carrying vehicles used for high intensity operations.
Environmental comments
Sir Richard Branson revealed that the new space vehicles would operate on a specially developed bio-fuel. "We are looking forward to working with Pratt and Whitney and Virgin Fuels to trial an appropriate bio mix for the PW308A engines that will be powering our new carrier aircraft," he said.
Environmental comments
Sir Richard Branson revealed that the new space vehicles would operate on a specially developed bio-fuel. "We are looking forward to working with Pratt and Whitney and Virgin Fuels to trial an appropriate bio mix for the PW308A engines that will be powering our new carrier aircraft," he said.
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