Virgin Galactic updates (Factory)

[neoadorable]

again with your anti-spaceplane bias :laugh: isn't the Skylon supposed to correct all these inefficiencies, so-called inefficiencies i should add?

[DocM]

Skylon falls into the class of a re-usable flyback booster.

Apples/Oranges & all.

[neoadorable]

damn, you always shoot me down with your advanced science knowledge! the sophistry! i just think of them as spaceplanes...ultimately leading to my beloved Valkyrie shuttle :laugh:

[DocM]

SS2 is getting nose strakes, small deployable flippers, to mitigate that slight oscillation in feather mode that showed in the video. This same feature was added to an F-18 NASA used for high angle of attack research. No photos yet.

Aviation Week....

[DocM]

Scaled ipdate....

Flight: 61/GF10

Date: 25 May 11

Flight Time: 10 min, 14 sec

SS2 Pilot: Stucky

SS2 CoPilot: Binnie

GS Crew: Nichols, Verderame, Bassett, Bozarth, Persall, Glaser, Inks, Tighe

Objectives:

Second feather flight

Evaluate feather configuration stability with nose strakes installed

Low altitude flutter envelope expansion

Shortened runway approach and landing validation

Results:

All objectives achieved. Much improved longitudinal dynamics in the feather configuration.

[neoadorable]

what happened to just going for broke, like they did in the early decades of modern aviation? sure it was risky but it got results. these guys are going way to slow for my liking!

[DocM]

What happened? The FAA and trial lawyers.

I'm glad they're getting it right to the n'th degree as these early services have to be as safe as possible for commercial space transport to really take off. Otherwise it could take decades to recover and get back here again.

[neoadorable]

guess you're right, better take another year or two to make sure everything works right before putting civvies on these ships and hoping for the best. i just wish it didn't take so long.

[DocM]

SS2 is getting nose strakes, small deployable flippers, to mitigate that slight oscillation in feather mode that showed in the video. This same feature was added to an F-18 NASA used for high angle of attack research. No photos yet.

Aviation Week....

If you zoom in on the nose of SS2 in the latest landing pic you can see the new triangular strakes (winglets) just in front of the main wings.

Landing pic

+ crop, zoom & contrast

[DocM]

Aviation Week article about their visit to TSC - The Spaceship Company, Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites facility for assembly line production of SpaceShipTwo and White Kinght Two

Aviation Week....

An Inside Look At A New Spaceship Factory

Shimmering, mirage-like, in the heat of California?s Mojave Desert, the newly completed steel and concrete of the world?s first commercial suborbital spaceship factory proves the goal of space tourism is nearing fruition.

Located across the flightline from Scaled Composites at Mojave Air & Space Port, The Spaceship Co.?s (TSC) 68,000-sq.-ft. Final Assembly, Integration and Test Hangar (Faith) will soon be humming with activity. By September the facility will start producing the first sections for a second WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft along with the first of multiple SpaceShipTwo (SS2) suborbital vehicles for Virgin Galactic and, ultimately, other customers.

TSC is a joint venture between Virgin Group and Northrop Grumman subsidiary Scaled Composites. It was set up to bridge the gap between the hand-made, prototyping style of the California-based spaceship developer and a standardized ?big aerospace? production facility in the mold of Boeing or Lockheed Martin, capable of delivering safe, reliable passenger-carrying spacecraft.

TSC was initially tasked with making one WK2 and four SS2s for Virgin Galactic, and Operations Director Enrico Palermo says: ?I?m confident we?ll be building more.? Together with the first WK2 and SS2 already built and in test, Virgin plans to operate an initial fleet of two carriers and five spacecraft, though hopes are high that other ?spaceline? customers will emerge.

For now, Palermo says, ?our blinders are set on serving our first customer, and getting these spacecraft flying.? With flight tests of the first SS2 accelerating and the first rocket-powered flights expected in coming months, the configuration of the production variants of both spacecraft and carrier aircraft are close to finalization. ?WK2 is flying and meeting its objectives, so that?s more or less set,? says Joe Brennan, TSC vehicle production manager, who adds that the company is also ?pretty happy? with the minor design changes on the SS2 required so far.

Despite the SS2 not yet having flown with its Scaled-Sierra Nevada RM2 hybrid rocket engine, Palermo says fast-paced aerodynamic and control system tests are approaching commercial-level sortie rates between spaceship glide flights. ?We?ve started to show we can really turn these vehicles around,? says Palermo, who notes that five test flights were achieved between June 14 and 27, including the first 24-hr. turnaround between two flights on June 14 and 15. Various modifications made to the 60-ft.-long, 42-ft.-wingspan vehicle so far include the addition of vortex generators and nose strakes.

TSC work at Mojave is focused on two main fabrication and assembly facilities, with a third hangar soon to be leased for storage. The bulk of fabrication will take place in Building 79, a 48,000-sq.-ft. site once used by Scaled. More than $1 million has already been spent upgrading and renovating the facility, which is set up to produce composite panels, subassemblies like the SS2 cabin section and WK2 fuselages, wing skins and empennage. All parts will be shipped to Faith for final assembly. Upgrades include energy-efficiency improvements, installation of a clean room, a 40 X 24 X 12-ft. oven for curing composites and a metals workshop with a CNC lathe.

The bright, clean-looking facility is in sharp contrast to its former appearance. ?Nine to 12 months before this it was empty, and six months before that, it was a cave in here,? says Brennan. ?There was no clean room or anything, it was just empty.?

The progress is paralleled by the ramp-up in the TSC workforce. ?There were just 12 employees then,? comments Palermo. ?Now we?re adding at a rate of around 10 per month, and will grow from 70 or so now to 175 by late 2012 and early 2013. The majority of those will be in engineering.? To support the buildup, TSC is embarked on a major recruitment drive. ?We?re looking for the best and the brightest. The sort of people who want to engineer the world?s first commercially developed passenger spaceships,? he declares.

The largest single parts made in Building 79 are the continuous composite primary spars for the WK2. Measuring 135 ft. in length, two spars run through the wing, which is extended with additional tip structure to form a 140-ft. overall span. Resembling a flattened ?W? in profile, the spars are laid up by hand and cured in sections by a portable vacuum ?oven,? which is repositioned along the span as work progresses.

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> Page 2....

[neoadorable]

i'm sorry, the more you post about this guy, the more it looks more like a regular plane...are we sure this can go beyond the Karman line, not trying to be negative or anything? where's all the life support stuff?

[DocM]

Embedded - it definitely has it - but remember what I've been saying about spaceplanes; they're useful for different missions than other spacecraft. As far as the Karman line - no problem. It's designed to clear it significantly, and if (as rumored) they ever replace the hybrid rocket with a liquid one for longer missions (maybe one of XCOR's) you might see it going intercontinental at much higher altitudes.

SS2 and XCOR's Lynx will be good for commercializing passenger flights, short duration scientific missions (NASA, SwRI and a ton of universities are signed up), flying small telescopes for Sophia-type missions, launching small satellites (acting as a flyback first stage), and for astronaut training (NASA signed up here too).

There have already been huge conferences about their scientific use, and a big advantage is that they can fly much larger payloads for a lot longer mission than sounding rockets, and much higher than stratospheric balloons.

[ILikeTobacco]

i'm sorry, the more you post about this guy, the more it looks more like a regular plane...are we sure this can go beyond the Karman line, not trying to be negative or anything? where's all the life support stuff?

You have to keep in mind that the shuttles were designed to do everything. The last shuttle took up the crew, literal tons of food, other supplies, and I think a few parts for the space station. That is why the flights were always so expensive. The commercial space flight will not be the same. They will have one play that does nothing but carries a small crew and supplies to the space station, another plane that does passenger flight for traveling across the globe, another plane designed for training, etc. While the cost up front is greater for all the models, it allows for much cheaper flight in the future when instead of carrying a few tons of supplies and a dozen people, the flights only carry a dozen people. You don't need hours/day of life support on a flight to go to the other side of the planet since that trip is space is fairly short.

[neoadorable]

thanks as always for the detailed explanations, i can understand the logic now, but it's still not really convincing to me. why can't we just have a couple of platforms to do everything? i mean if multiple platforms are privately funded, then of course fine, but if this fragmentation takes us away from our long terms goals, then it's not good as i think of things.

[DocM]

Fragmentation means more ideas as to how to build these things get actual flight testing, which is good for the industry down the road. Look at the early days of powered flight and you see all kinds of things being tried in experimental aircraft; some worked, some didn't, but in the end we ended up with aircraft like the 1935 Douglas DC-3 that revolutionized the aircraft industry and is still flying 76 years later. Chassis #1920 is the oldest and is based a few miles from here under the name Flagship Detroit.

This process continued in the X-planes (X-1, X-15 etc.), and in these early steps at building a space travel industry.

Back on topic; SS2 flight testing is suspended while the rocket engine is being installed for powered flight testing, but WK2 is still flying -

Flight: 69

Date: 11 Aug 11

Flight Time: 2.1 hr

WK2 Pilot: Stucky

WK2 CoPilot: Nichols

WK2 FTE: Reid

GS Crew: Tighe, Glaser, Persall, Siebold, and Inks

Objectives:

Engine fuel inlet cooler performance testing

Flutter susceptibility data collection

Anti-Skid operational check and data collection

Results:

All objectives achieved.

[neoadorable]

thanks for the reminder Doc, it's amazing that we've only been flying in our own atmosphere for a century, and here i am, demanding colonies on Mars. it's good we have multiple platforms, you're def right on that one.

[DocM]

Most recent RocketMotorTwo test firings. Big gaps because it's a proven tech and RM2 is very similar to the engines for Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser, which has undergone extensive testing over the last year.

We now know that a full duration burn of SS2's engine is 55 seconds. Flight tests shouldn't be too far off as SS2 has spent the last month getting the necessary mods to install flight engines instead of the mass simulators used in previous test flights.

========================

Fire: 05

Date: 11 August 10

Objectives:

Perform fifth full scale flight design RM2 hot-fire

Continue all systems evaluation

Continue fuel formulation evaluation

Continue nozzle evaluation

Continue motor structural evaluation

Continue valve/injector performance evaluation

Results:

All objectives completed. Performed successful increased duration hot-fire, including igniter performance, oxidizer flow and pressurization systems, data acquisition system measurements, structural evaluation, nozzle ablation, and fuel regression rate data collection. Determined stability levels.

========================

Fire: 06

Date: 24 March 11

Objectives:

Perform sixth full scale flight design RM2 hot-fire

Continue all systems evaluation

Continue fuel formulation evaluation

Continue nozzle evaluation

Continue motor structural evaluation

Continue valve/injector performance evaluation

Results:

All objectives completed. Performed increased duration hot-fire, including igniter performance, oxidizer flow and pressurization systems, data acquisition system measurements, structural evaluation, nozzle ablation, and fuel regression rate data collection. Determined stability levels.

========================

Fire: 07

Date: 25 August 11

Objectives:

Perform seventh full scale flight design RM2 hot-fire

Continue all systems evaluation

Continue fuel formulation evaluation

Continue nozzle evaluation

Continue motor structural evaluation

Continue valve/injector performance evaluation

Results:

All objectives completed. Performed 55 second, full duration hot-fire, including igniter performance, oxidizer flow and pressurization systems, data acquisition system measurements, structural evaluation, nozzle ablation, and fuel regression rate data collection.

========================

[neoadorable]

good to know this is progressing, would like to have it literally off the ground sooner tho...why only a 55 second burn? we need moar!

[DocM]

55 seconds is all they need for SS2's planned flight profile. If they want more they can get someone to build them a liquid engine, perhaps one powered by NOFBx.

[neoadorable]

what kind of flight only requires a 55 second burn? maybe i'm missing something here.

[DocM]

Suborbital trajectories are ballistic - you burn just enough to get to your target altitude, coast, then glide back. The same hybrid motor tech but larger will be used for launch escape (also ballistic), orbiral insertion and orbital maneuvering in SNC's Dream Chaser.

For a longer ballistic trajectory, say a hypersonic interconental transportation hop, you'd want a liquid rocket for its higher efficiency (ISP - Specific Impulse.) For Virgins orbital aspirations they'll just use Dream Chaser - no need to re-invent the wheel.

[neoadorable]

how long of a burn would my Venture Star need to get to GSO, for example? or was that not even a burn type engine? i don't know much about that aerospike design...

[DocM]

First you go to LEO then to GTO, a high apogee elliptical transfer orbit, then you circularize and make it higher. All told from the pad and counting coast times between burns so they can enter the designated slot, a few hours.

[neoadorable]

so with current technology i could get to like 35,000km in a couple of hours? that's ok. i mean, we can get to moon orbit overnight now if we needed to, correct?

[DocM]

2.5 - 3 days.