Virgin Galactic announced yesterday that SpaceShipTwo (SS2) performed an unpowered test flight yesterday while stating again that it would soon perform another powered test flight. The flight, the first for SS2 since its second powered flight on September 5 (according to Scaled Composites’s flight log), appeared to be a routine glide test that featured a test of SS2’s nitrous dump system. SS2 also sported a new look, with reflective Kapton material on the inboard surfaces of the vehicle’s vertical stabilizers, which Virgin said is intended to help the vehicle better manage temperatures (presumably from the exhaust of the vehicle’s hybrid rocket motor.) Parabolic Arc first reported the addition of the material on Tuesday.
Virgin documented the flight in some tweets, a sampling of which are below:
#SpaceShipTwo looks sharper than ever with reflective Kapton coating on her tail. May help manage temperatures even better. Photos soon!
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 11, 2013
#SpaceShipTwo just completed a planned test of her continuous nitrous dump system—another key test leading up to our next powered flight.
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 11, 2013
#SpaceShipTwo back on the ground after another important glide flight, which proceeded as planned. Our next powered flight is coming up soon
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 11, 2013
Check out the shiny new wings on #SpaceShipTwo in this photo from today's successful glide flight. pic.twitter.com/xw8c8N1bK1
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 11, 2013
Note in one of the tweets that Virgin says the next powered flight is “coming up soon.” Exactly what constitutes “soon” is unclear: In mid-October, Virgin president Steve Isakowitz said a powered flight was coming up “very soon.” In early November, company CEO George Whitesides said the next powered test was “about a month away… maybe a little less.”
[ Note: post corrected to property identify the vehicle surfaces covered in Kapton. ]
Definition of Soon(TM) is same regardless of industry.
Those are not “[t]he interior sections of the vehicle’s wings”. Those are the inboard surfaces of the vertical stabilizer.
I found your description confusing. Then I saw the picture. Then I knew your description is not confusing; it’s wrong. Yes, it makes a difference.
The error in the post has been corrected, sir. Thank you for pointing it out.
I really wish Virgin Galactic can be more specific on their definition of “soon.”