Red Ice Creations - Special report

Red Ice Membership


  
Virgin unveils spaceship designs
2008 01 25

From: news.bbc.co.uk


Virgin Galactic has released the final design of the launch system that will take fare-paying passengers into space.

It is based on the X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne concept - a rocket ship that is lifted initially by a carrier plane before blasting skywards.

The Virgin system is essentially a refinement, but has been increased in size to take eight people at a time on a sub-orbital trip, starting in 2010.

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson said the space business had huge potential.

"I think it's very important that we make a genuine commercial success of this project," he told a news conference in New York.

"If we do, I believe we'll unlock a wall of private sector money into both space launch systems and space technology.

"This could rival the scale of investment in the mobile phone and internet technologies after they were unlocked from their military origins and thrown open to the private sector."

The 'experience'
Virgin Galactic has contracted the innovative aerospace designer Burt Rutan to build its spaceliners. The carrier - White Knight Two (WK2) - is said to be very nearly complete and is expected to begin flight-testing later this year.

SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is about 60% complete, Virgin Galactic says.

Both vehicles are being constructed at Mr Rutan's Scaled Composites factory in California.


Read the rest of the story: Virgin unveils spaceship designs

Related article: Virgin Galactic Strikes Deal with Swedish Government

Bookmark and Share


Your email:

Related Articles
virgingalactic.com
Billionaire Picks One-Horse Town To Start Space Empire
Blue Origin Spaceport Plans are Talk of Texas Town


Latest News from our Front Page

CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy
2009 11 21
Where affluent Lithuanians once rode show horses and sipped coffee at a café, the CIA installed a concrete structure where it could use harsh tactics to interrogate up to eight suspected al-Qaeda terrorists at a time. "The activities in that prison were illegal," said human rights researcher John Sifton.
How Will Religion Evolve?
2009 11 21
Does religion have a future? Who looks more like an evolutionary dead end: the religious American or the agnostic European? Or will both give way to some sort of compromise — people bound by new institutions that provide the social benefits of religion without belief in a traditional deity?
NSA helped with Windows 7 development - Uh oh!
2009 11 21
Privacy expert voices 'backdoor' concerns, security researchers dismiss idea. The National Security Agency (NSA) worked with Microsoft on the development of Windows 7, an agency official acknowledged yesterday during testimony before Congress. "Working in partnership with Microsoft and elements of the Department of Defense, NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft's operating system ...
Obama Predicts Conviction In 9/11 Case
2009 11 19
The president, in a series of TV interviews during his trip to Asia, said those offended by the legal rights accorded Mohammed by virtue of his facing a civilian trial rather than a military tribunal won't find it "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him." "Failure is not an option"
TV ad seeks to recruit Arab-Americans to CIA
2009 11 19
There's a swirl of activity in a spacious, modern kitchen as final meal preparations are made. An older man tries to swipe a felafel off an appetizer plate but instead gets a loving hand slap from a woman. The happy, well-dressed guests move to a table full of food in a dining room adorned with Middle Eastern wall-hangings. It's an inviting, if ...
Canada in Afghanistan: Torture and Coverup
2009 11 19
All detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials and many of the prisoners were innocent, says a former senior diplomat with Canada's mission in Afghanistan. He said the most common forms of torture were beatings, whipping with power cables, the use of electricity, knives, open flames and rape.
Judge: Corps' negligence caused Katrina flooding
2009 11 19
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding in Hurricane Katrina, a decision that could make the federal government vulnerable to billions of dollars in claims.

» More Featured News Stories





Red Ice Creations


.