SpaceShipTwo and SpaceShipThree

Based on the design and trajectory of SpaceShipOne, now a proven space­ship, SpaceShipTwo takes advantage of the lessons learned while flying SpaceShipOne. Rutan stated his commitment to making it one hundred times safer than anything that has previously carried people to space.

On September 27, 2004, just days before the first Ansari X Prize flight attempt, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, founder ofVirgin Records and Virgin Atlantic, entered into an agreement with Paul Allen and Burt Rutan to build a fleet of SpaceShipTwos to be launched from carrier aircraft similar to White Knight. SpaceShipTwo is about three times the size of SpaceShipOne, and its carrier is as large as an airliner. Figure 10.6 shows a conceptual drawing of SpaceShipTwo and its carrier aircraft, and figure 10.7 shows a size comparison that includes SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo.

Branson formed the spaceline Virgin Galactic, in which he desig­nated the first SpaceShipTwo the Virgin Spaceship (VSS) Enterprise after Star Trek’s famed spaceship, and the carrier aircraft Eva after his mum. Virgin Galactic will pay $250 million for a fleet containing five

SpaceShipTwos and two White Knight Twos. True to Rutan fashion, the program to develop these aircraft, called Tier lb, is top secret.

The trajectory is a basic up and down, like SpaceShipOne s, but initial launches will likely take place where the carrier aircraft flies from Mojave out over the Pacific Ocean, as shown in figure 10.8. SpaceShipTwo then reenters the atmosphere after having reached a reported apogee of 84—87 miles (135—140 kilometers), whereas during SpaceShipOne’s final flight it hit 69.6 miles (112 kilometers), well above the Ansari X Prize limit of 62.1 miles (100 kilometers). Having a better glide range than its predecessor, SpaceShipTwo will take a scenic glide back to Mojave.

SpaceShipTwo will have two pilots and room for six passengers. The price for the 2.5-hour trip will be about $200,000 to start with, which includes an orientation flight where the passengers on deck get to watch an actual flight of SpaceShipTwo from the carrier aircraft. That hefty price tag will come down once the economy of scale and competition begin to take hold. Virgin Galactic released mockups of the interior in September 2006. As shown in figure 10.9, passengers

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Fig. 10.6. An early conceptual design of SpaceShipTwo and White Knight Two shows the similarities to their predecessors. However, SpaceShipTwo will be three times the size of SpaceShipOne and has a cabin the size of a Gulfstream 4 corporate jet while White Knight Two will be larger than a Boeing 757. Virgin Galactic’s initial fleet will include five SpaceShipTwos and two White Knight Twos. Courtesy ofVirgin Galactic

r _ Л Fig. 10.7. At an initial price of $200,000, a ride on SpaceShipTwo will cost a lot of spacebucks. But when bicycles and automobiles were first invented, not many people could afford them. And when ocean liners started to sail and airliners started to fly, the tickets were well beyond the reach of most. So, the ticket price of SpaceShipTwo is expected to drop substantially once competition between other spacelines takes hold and the space tourism industry begins to mature. Courtesy of Virgin Galactic к )
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Fig. 10.8. This conceptual diagram shows an early representation of SpaceShipTwo’s flight profile based on the flight profile of SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipTwo will be three times as large as its predecessor but will share many of the same design elements. Courtesy of Virgin Galactic

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will be able to release their seatbelts and float around inside the cabin during a weightlessness period of about four minutes.

The conceptual drawings and early flight specifications available to the public will undoubtedly differ a bit from the end results. The launch altitude of 60,000 feet (18,290 meters) that has been floating
around, for example, is a number that will likely come down. Just because the vehicles are larger and apogee is planned to be higher doesn’t necessarily mean everything else scales up, too. After all, SpaceShipOne was planned to launch at 50,000 feet (15,240 meters), dropped to 48,000 feet (14,630 meters), and then finally ended up

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Fig. 10.9. A mockup of SpaceShipTwo’s cabin interior was revealed in 2006. Six passengers will ride to space, and when they get there, they will be able to unbuckle their seatbelts and float around the cabin to enjoy the weightlessness and the view. Courtesy of Virgin Galactic

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at 47,000 feet (14,330 meters). To turn the corner with that big rocket engine blaring, SpaceShipTwo still needs air for the control surfaces to bite into, right? Will SpaceShipTwo even be mounted underneath the carrier aircraft, or will it ride on top like the Space Shuttle on a 747? Why risk your spaceship if your carrier aircraft has a landing gear failure? Why waste energy pulling downward away from the carrier aircraft during separation? However, a carrier aircraft could fly to a higher altitude in order to reduce the fuel requirements of a top-launching spacecraft if the carrier aircraft was able to pitch up and begin turning the corner for the spacecraft prior to separation.

SpaceShipTwo is set to fly passengers in the 2008—2009 time – frame. But before flight testing begins, SpaceShipTwo will be unveiled. SpaceShipThree will eventually follow. It will be the first of Rutan’s Tier Two vehicles, designed for Earth orbit. SpaceShipThree certainly has a model number by now.