By akademiotoelektronik, 20/03/2023
Virgin Galactic's SpaceHiptwo has stolen from the space borders, 90 km altitude
During its final test flight on Friday, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo peaked at an altitude of nearly 90 kilometers. A new record for the suborbital aircraft whose entry into service is scheduled for 2020, or even 2019 for the most optimistic. Alongside the two pilots was Beth Moses, head instructor of future Virgin Galactic customer-astronauts. And this famous frontier of space is already sparking the start of a controversy initiated by Jeff Bezos, the founding CEO of Amazon and Blue Origin, the other suborbital tourist vehicle soon to be in service.
Do you like our News?Sign up for the Daily newsletter to receive our latest News once a day. approached a little closer to the frontier of space, arbitrarily set at 100 kilometers in altitude by the International Aeronautical Federation, by flying up to 89.9 kilometers in altitude. During its previous test flight, in December, the suborbital plane had reached 82.7 kilometers. For the next flight, which should be the last test flight before SpaceShipTwo enters commercial service, everyone expects the plane to cross this Kármán line.On Friday, the suborbital plane reached its highest speed and altitude yet. It peaked at 295,007 feet (89.9 km) and flew up to Mach 3.04. The crew was treated to several minutes of weightlessness before beginning the return to solid ground. For the first time, the plane carried three people. Alongside the two pilots was a passenger: Beth Moses, chief instructor of future Virgin Galactic client-astronauts. Previously, she worked in NASA astronaut training. SpaceShipTwo also carried research payloads as part of NASA's Flight Opportunities program.
Takeoff of Virgin Galactic's Eve carrier plane (WhiteKnightTwo), with the SpaceShipTwo hanging under its wing for its fifth powered flight and the second beyond 80 kilometers of altitude. © Virgin Galactic
By flying higher than 80 kilometers in altitude, these three people have obtained the status of astronauts. In December, Chief Pilot Dave Mackay and First Officer Michael “Sooch” Masucci became the 569th and 570th humans to fly in space. As for Beth Moses, she became the 571th person to fly in space and the first woman to do so aboard a commercial spacecraft.
The interior of the SpaceShipTwo with in the foreground the two pilots and a passenger, in this case Beth Moses, chief instructor of future Virgin Galactic customer-astronauts. © Virgin Galactic
Which frontier of space should we be heading to?
Normally, the tourist services of Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin should begin in the course of the year 2020, or even at the end of 2019. But, the two companies do not aim for the same altitude! Virgin Galactic will be content to send its customers slightly above 80 kilometers while Blue Origin has committed to the New Shepard flying over 100 kilometers in altitude. And as Jeff Bezos recently aptly pointed out, flights aboard Virgin Galactic will always have an “asterisk” because they do not reach the Kármán line (100 kilometers above sea level).
As a reminder, there are at least three boundaries of space, two of which have been set arbitrarily. To those who wonder why there is not a single border, it should be known that the Earth's atmosphere simply does not disappear. It becomes thinner and thinner and extends well beyond the Moon!
Among the commonly accepted borders, we can cite the two arbitrarily fixed ones. The one at an altitude of 80 kilometers, recognized by NASA, the FAA, the NOAA and the U.S. Air Force. Crossing this border allows you to obtain the famous "wings", an American badge awarded to astronauts. The second has been recognized by the International Aeronautical Federation, which sets it at an altitude of 100 kilometers. This border is also called the Kármán line, named after the Hungarian physicist Theodore von Kármán.
Nasa's control center also has its own definition of the boundary of space. He fixes it at an altitude of 122 kilometers because it is at “this point that the atmospheric drag begins to be noticed”.
What to rememberFind out moreVirgin Galactic: a test flight at the frontier of space on December 13, 2018
Article by Rémy Decourt published on December 13, 2018
For its fourth powered test flight, SpaceShipTwo is expected to reach one of two arbitrarily set outer space boundaries. Either that of 80 kilometers of altitude, which will be used for the tourist flights, or the line of Kármán, fixed at 100 kilometers of altitude.
The FAA (the US civil aviation regulatory authority) has announced that it will close the airspace above Mojave Airport and Spaceport in California between December 13 and 15. The closure of this airspace should allow Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo to carry out a new test flight which will take place as soon as the weather conditions are favorable.
The purpose of this test flight is to "fly higher and faster" and to run the plane's rocket engine "longer than ever before, but not to its full capacity in terms of life. combustion”, explains Virgin Galactic in its press release.
During the previous attempt, the plane had reached a high point at an altitude of 52 kilometers. Logically, the SpaceShipTwo should this time reach the frontier of space. But, Virgin Galactic did not indicate what altitude it was aiming for.
The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, called VMS Eve, with the SpaceShipTwo hanging under its fuselage. © Virgin Galactic
You should know that there are three borders. A physics, which is located at more or less 350-400 kilometers of altitude but inaccessible to any of the suborbital tourist vehicles in project, and two others fixed arbitrarily. There is the Kármán line, fixed at an altitude of 100 kilometers and recognized by the International Aeronautical Federation (FAI). The second arbitrary border is located 20 kilometers lower (80 km altitude). It is recognized by NASA and the U.S. Air Force.
Note that the International Aeronautical Federation announced on November 30 its intention to reconsider this definition with a view to lowering it to an altitude of 80 kilometers. In addition to its technical interest, this decision also has economic and legal interests that this article from maxisciences.com explains very well. It is moreover at this altitude that Virgin Galactic wishes to carry out its tourist flights which should begin in 2020, or even at the end of 2019. At least, at the beginning of the commercial activity because the company of Richard Branson does not exclude flying more high if the aircraft's performance allows it and the market calls for it.
The SpaceShipTwo (VSS Unity) above Mojave Airport and Spaceport. © Virgin Galactic
That said, whether they are 80 or 100 kilometers above sea level, the same viewpoint will be available to “space” tourists. They will also be able to discover the curvature of the Earth, the darkness of space and experience the joys of weightlessness. This flight will allow them to gain the official status of astronaut, as in their time, in the 1960s, the test pilots of the X-15 of the U.S. Air Force and therefore to be awarded the famous astronaut wings.
The company added that this test flight will carry four payloads, the nature of which has not been made public. We just know that they will fly as part of NASA's Flight Opportunities program, which offers flight opportunities for research payloads via suborbital launchers, balloons or commercial aircraft. They will also be used to simulate the weight represented by the future passengers of the vehicle.
Virgin Galactic: the SpaceShipTwo Unity will soon fly to the frontier of space
Article by Rémy Decourt published on 10/20/2018
In the race, friendly but not devoid of commercial interests, that Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin lead to become the first company to offer commercial flights to the frontier of space (100 km), the next few weeks will be certainly decisive. While the New Shepard is about to make its first manned flights, Richard Branson has just announced the first flight of his SpaceShipTwo aircraft at an altitude of 100 kilometers for the next few weeks!
After several years behind schedule and incessant commissioning postponements, Virgin Galactic's suborbital aircraft is about to carry out its first tests at the frontier of space. Speaking on the international financial news channel CNBC, at the Barclays Asia Forum in Singapore, Richard Branson announced that his plane will be in "space for test flights within weeks, not months". . And to add that he himself will carry out a flight aboard his plane “within a few months”.
The company is engaged in a hotly contested race with Blue Origin, led by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon who, with his company Blue Origin, is developing the New Shepard, a suborbital stage surmounted by a capsule with lenses similar. Richard Branson wishes to offer tourist transport services to the frontier of space before this competitor and to maintain his customers several minutes in weightlessness during the ballistic flight phase. That said, Blue Origin has already announced that it wants to sell seats in its vehicle from next year.
On its next test flight of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, the Unity aircraft is expected to fly at record speeds and run its engine longer than in previous flights. © Virgin Galactic
A gigantic space tourism market
In terms of business, Richard Branson is also very optimistic, explaining that “out of 10 people, 8 would be ready to fly in space if they had the means. ". An analysis which joins a recent report published at the end of last year by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and which predicts that the space sector, including human activity and space tourism, would represent at least 2.700 billion dollars over the next three decades. Richard Branson wants his company and other players in this nascent industry to “produce as many spacecraft as possible to meet this demand”.
At a cost of $250,000, the price of a ticket to fly on SpaceShiptTwo is “obviously not competitive”. It strongly restricts “the number of people likely to fly on board”, recognizes Richard Branson. Even if this cost is not supposed to decrease in the immediate future, the demand seems to exceed the supply. Richard Branson said he "ultimately" wants that price to drop to "about $40,000 or $50,000 over the next decade."
Suborbital or space flights?
Whether it's Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo or Blue Origin's New Shepard, the expression tourist flight in space seems presumptuous to us. Indeed, although the two companies promise to bring their passengers to the frontier of space, it should be noted that this border has been set arbitrarily at 100 kilometers, above the Kármán line, which the International Aeronautical Federation gives as the boundary between Earth and space. In fact, there is no physical boundary between the atmosphere and space. Atmospheric layers remain beyond these 100 kilometres. Above 150 kilometres, the pressure becomes very low and gradually fades into space, up to 350 or 400 kilometres. Even so far away, it is still possible to detect traces of air molecules.
You should also know that flying above an altitude of 120 kilometers involves much greater constraints, especially to return to Earth, and requires a much more powerful rocket engine than those developed for the New Shepard and the SpaceShipTwo . This explains why these two vehicles will be satisfied with the 100 kilometers of altitude.
Virgin Galactic: the SpaceShipTwo Unity succeeds in its third supersonic test flight
Article by Rémy Decourt published on 04/08/2018
On its third supersonic flight, over the Mojave Desert in the United States, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unity performed well. The plane flew at almost twice the speed of sound and reached the record altitude of 52 kilometers (170,800 feet). Its engine ran for 42 seconds. During the next test flight, the plane will climb even higher, but probably not to the edge of space.
In the race for suborbital flights to the frontier of space between Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, the two companies seem well on their way to winning their bet and paving the way for space tourism. They have recently passed very important development stages, which suggests a first commercial and tourist flight as early as 2020, or even the end of 2019.
The two suborbital transport systems are very different from each other. For Virgin Galactic, it consists of the WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane and the SpaceShipTwo, hung under its belly. As for the New Shepard from Blue Origin, it is a suborbital stage surmounted by a capsule. But the objectives are identical: to bring tourists to the frontier of space, arbitrarily set at 100 kilometers above the Kármán line, which the International Aeronautical Federation gives as the limit between Earth and space, and maintain several minutes in weightlessness during the ballistic flight phase.
Space frontier in focus
Last week, on its third supersonic test flight, Virgin Galactic's suborbital aircraft, SpaceShipTwo, ventured out to the first time in the mesosphere at more than 50 kilometers altitude. In April, during the first supersonic test flight, the aircraft reached Mach 1.87 and an altitude of 84,000 feet. A few weeks later, in May, the speed was about Mach 2 and 114,500 feet altitude. This time, the SpaceShipTwo flew at Mach 2.47 (2,469 km/h) and at an altitude of more than 50 kilometers (170,800 feet).
Third supersonic test flight of SpaceShipTwo Unity. © Virigin Galactic
As on previous flights, the cabin of SpaceShipTwo was equipped with several sensors to collect data useful for the in-flight safety of future space tourists. Measurements of temperature, pressure, humidity and sound insulation were thus taken. The behavior of the aircraft structure during accelerations and its exposure to solar radiation were monitored throughout the flight.
The next test flight is already in preparation. But it is unlikely to bring the SpaceShipTwo to the frontier of space. Although the plane has made half the trip, the last 50 kilometers that remain to be covered are the most demanding for the plane and the engine will have to run for about 90 seconds.
Unity, the new SpaceShipTwo from Virgin Galactic, succeeds in its supersonic flight
Article by Rémy Decourt published on April 10, 2018
Ten years after Richard Branson's first announcements promising tourist flights to the frontier of space for 2009, Virgin Galactic is taking a new step towards commercial exploitation. During a test flight on April 5, SpaceShipTwo reached supersonic speed and maintained it for several seconds. The data will be analyzed but the smile of the pilots when they get off the plane says a lot about the success of this first supersonic flight.
After two years of ground and glide testing, Virgin Galactic conducted the first powered test of the SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity on April 5, 2018 (“VSS” for Virgin Space Ship and “Unity” for “Unit”, a name chosen by Stephen Hawking). The space plane exceeded 25 kilometers in altitude and reached Mach 1.87, marking the start of the last part of the flight test program, the last straight line before the next commercial operation of the plane.
The engine only ran for 30 seconds, significantly less than what will be needed during the plane's sightseeing flights to the edge of space. There are still three times this distance to travel before reaching the symbolic border of space, arbitrarily located at an altitude of 100 kilometers. To reach it, the SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity engine must be on for 90 seconds.
SpaceShipTwo's first supersonic test flight occurred on April 5, 2018. © Virgin Galactic
One step closer to space tourism
During this flight, Virgin Galactic's chief test pilot, Dave Mackay (61), and Mark "Forger" Stucky were at the controls, while the carrier aircraft, the White KnightTwo VSS Eve, was piloted by Mike Masucci and Nicola Pecile. The two vehicles reached an altitude of 14 km before separating. The rocket engine ignited and then the pilots pitched the aircraft up to an 80° attitude accelerating to Mach 1.87 for the 30-second engine test.
As for the atmospheric reentry system and its mobile empennage, the lessons of the SpaceShipTwo accident, which occurred on October 31, 2014, have been learned. The empennage design was modified and tested several times in 2017. During this supersonic flight, the system worked perfectly. As a reminder, during a test flight, a SpaceShipTwo crashed on the ground as a result of human error (the airbrake had been activated too early). Pilot Michael Alsbury was killed while co-pilot Peter Siebold was able to eject and use his parachute but was still seriously injured.
We landed safely at Mojave Airport, half an hour after takeoff. Now everyone is waiting for the “big” test, during which the engine will be fired for the full duration of its operation, i.e. 90 seconds. Virgin Galactic did not wish to give details on the continuation of its operations or communicate the schedule of test flights for the coming months.
Space tourism: Virgin Galactic flies Unity, the new SpaceShipTwo, for the first time
Article by Rémy Decourt published on December 6, 2016
More than two years after the SpaceShipTwo Enterprise crash that claimed the life of test pilot Michael Alsbury, a SpaceShipTwo has flown again. Unity, that's its name, performed a ten-minute free flight that went off without a hitch.
Virgin Galactic, which hopes to send its first tourists to the frontier of space before the end of the decade, has just taken an important step towards space tourism. She indeed achieved a successful first free flight of Unity. This suborbital plane is the successor to SpaceShipTwo, whose crash during a test flight in October 2014 cost the life of its pilot, Michael Alsbury, and injured his co-pilot Peter Siebold. The design of Unity is different from that of its predecessor. The device was presented in February 2016 and obtained its operating license in August.
On December 3, on his fifth flight, he performed a glide for the first time, brought up to 50,000 feet (15 kilometers) by his carrier aircraft -- the WhiteKnightTwo, of which it was the 218th vol. With the engine off (this is the principle of free flight), Unity made a ten-minute free fall which allowed it to reach the speed of Mach 0.6. In total, from takeoff to return to dry land, the flight will have lasted 1 hour 20 minutes.
Further free flights planned for the suborbital plane
As the two pilots aboard the suborbital plane, Mark Stucky and Dave Mackay, point out, "Unity's flight went well unfolded”. This should be confirmed by examining the data which will be used by teams from The Spaceship Company, the sister company of Virgin Galactic which is building the aircraft.
That said, it's not tomorrow that Unity will test its rocket engine in flight. Before testing it, on a date that has not yet been communicated, several other free flights are planned and necessary to ensure the good behavior of the aircraft in a wide variety of flight conditions.
After the crash of the first SpaceShipTwo, discover Unity
Article by Rémy Decourt published on 02/22/2016
Sixteen months after the crash of the first prototype which claimed the life of test pilot Michael Alsbury, Virgin Galactic has unveiled Unity, the new copy of SpaceShipTwo, its suborbital plane which should pave the way for space tourism. However, no date has been communicated for a test flight and even less for a passenger transport flight.
The decade of 2010 should have been the decade of the launch of commercial space tourism services. However, it is clear that all the projects presented at the end of the 1990s struggled to take off. Most have been abandoned. Only some are doing well, such as the New Shepard from Blue Origin or the Lynx from XCor Aerospace. As for the SpaceShipTwo, grounded since the crash of a prototype in October 2014, a new version has just been presented with great fanfare. She was baptized by the granddaughter of billionaire Richard Branson using a bottle of milk.
In appearance, this vehicle is very similar to the first version. There are, however, some notable differences such as larger horizontal stabilizers on the aircraft's double fin.
Richard Branson presents Unity, the new SpaceShipTwo. © Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is betting on the hybrid engine
This second version of SpaceShipTwo also incorporates some improvements that take into account the feedback from the first test flights but also changes that are a direct consequence the loss in flight of the first aircraft.
Indeed, at the time, the investigation had shown that the co-pilot, Michael Alsbury, who died in the crash of the aircraft, would have triggered the braking system too soon, which raises the tail of the aircraft, causing aerodynamic instability and causing the vehicle to overshoot its flight envelope. The dashboard of the new vehicle therefore incorporates a device that warns when it is dangerous to activate the maneuvering control of the pivoting tail.
As for the engine, a key element in the development of the machine, Virgin Galactic is still betting on a hybrid engine that works with a mixture of a fuel in solid form and a liquid oxidizer.
The new version of SpaceShipTwo sports a different white and silver livery than the previous version of the suborbital vehicle. © Virgin Galactic, Mark Greenberg
The company therefore sticks to a fuel based on polybutadiene hydroxytelechelic (PBHT) (also used daily as a synthetic rubber for tires) and nitrous oxide (N2 O) (also called laughing gas). Advances have been made in this area despite the uncertainties surrounding this engine, whose performance has always been below what the paper studies foreshadowed.
At the moment, there is no information about a first test flight. The company did not wish to communicate on a precise timetable of the various stages to be completed before finally being able to board passengers and open a commercial space tourism service by 2020.
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External linkVirgin Galactic press release
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