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Flight International provides some relatively new details about the performance of SpaceShipTwo, based on comments made by Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn and Scaled Composites’ Brian Binnie at a space tourism forum in London last week. According to the report, SS2 will fly to an altitude of 140 km and experience 7 g’s on reentry. However, the “shuddering” experienced by SS1 during the end of its engine burn–caused by the intermittent injection of nitrous oxide oxidizer as the tank neared depletion–may still exist in SS2 because of “its slim design margins”. (The article does note that SS2 will use a “new hybrid rocket motor”, which is not surprising given both that SS2 will be larger than SS1 and the deteriorated relationship between Scaled Composites and SpaceDev, which built the hybrid motors used by SS1.)
The 7-g reentry is a little surprising, because that’s a lot of acceleration to expose tourists to, although that’s probably not avoidable given the higher altitudes SS2 will fly to. That will make the development of seats that can protect passengers from the worst accelerations all the more important. One odd point at the end of the article: the increased downrange of SS2 “could enable it to land at Roswell instead of the New Mexico South West Regional Spaceport near Las Cruces.” But why would you want to do that? The purpose of suborbital space tourism is not to go from point A to point B, but to go from point A to point A via space. Landing at another airport only increases logistical complexities and costs.
That’s the gist of a short Flight International article about the two companies, based on comments that representatives of the two companies made at a space tourism forum last week in London. According to the article, Chris Faranetta of Space Adventures said that “it is a race” to see who would be the first to offer suborbital space tourism services, while Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn said “he was only interested in developing the safest system.”
This sort of jockeying is not unique to companies trying to break into, or create, a new market. The comments say something about the relative position of the two companies: those companies that believe they are, or are perceived to be, in the lead, have little incentive to play up a race with lagging competitors, while those farther behind will do just that to more closely associate themselves with the market leader. Virgin Galactic is certainly perceived as the market leader for suborbital space tourism. Virgin Galactic is sticking to a late 2008 date for beginning commercial service, while Space Adventures has not disclosed a date for its Russian-developed Explorer, although the company has downplayed Russian reports that the Explorer will not be ready for test flights until at least 2009.
Last month we mentioned Mark Rocket, a New Zealand businessman whose dedication to flying on Virgin Galactic went so far that he changed his last name to Rocket. It turns out Mr. Rocket is quite the entrepreneur: besides his own personal web site, he has the “Rocket Network” of businesses, primarily related to internet services and business: shopping cart software, anti-spam software, and email marketing campaign solutions. One that stands out is Rocket Florist, an online florist. It has, though, attracted the critical attention of comsumer.org.nz, a Kiwi equivalent of Consumer Reports. According to an article by the non-profit organization, it charges $80 for bouquets from customers but the value of the orders it passes on to local florists for fulfillment is only $49, in part because of a convoluted supply chain with several middlemen, each taking a cut. “Rocket Florist’s service is a waste of money,” the article concludes, noting that people can save money by using a local florist instead. “After all, it’s just a bunch of flowers – it isn’t rocket science.”
One other note: Mr. Rocket’s web site includes a number of images from his visit to Mojave last month along with a number of other Virgin Galactic “Founders.” One photo is a group shot with “50” of the Founders (although there appear to be only about 40 people in the photo, including Burt Rutan) posing in front of the White Knight aircraft. This is probably one of the few group shots of a significant fraction of Virgin Galactic’s 100 Founders.
A CNET News.com article about a speech Greg Olsen gave at a San Francisco conference this week provides some general details about his experiences as a space tourist, but also some interesting insight into how he got interested in taking the Soyuz trip to the ISS in the first place:
A New Jersey resident, Olsen got the idea for his trip one morning in 2003 while reading the paper at a local Starbucks. Space Adventures–a U.S.-based space-travel agency contracted with Russia–had sent the first two private citizens to ISS, according to a news article that day. Olsen, who was recently flush with cash from the sale of his optical technology company Epitaxx to a telecom operator, decided it was a good time to pursue a long-held dream.
One other trivia item of note: it appears that Huggies is the diaper brand of choice among Soyuz crew members.
Space Adventures announced today that Daisuke “Dice-K” Enomoto has been officially confirmed as a member of the Soyuz TMA-9 crew that will fly to the ISS in September, alongside Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria. Enomoto had, of course, been in training for this flight for months. Anousheh Ansari was also named to the backup crew should Enomoto not be able to fly for some reason; it’s assumed that eventually she, too, will fly to the ISS, although it’s not clear when.
The launch of the first subscale prototype of Bigelow Aerospace’s inflatable habitats is being delayed by about a month. The company announced Tuesday that the launch, which had been scheduled for June 16 (and is still listed as such on the official Roskosmos launch schedule) will be delayed to July 4-14. “This delay is necessary due to special preparations that the launch provider is continuing to make for our flight,” the company reported on its web site. (Also see an MSNBC.com article.) The company said it is still taking reservations for carrying photos and memorabilia on the Genesis 2 launch, planned for later this year; if the July launch goes well the company will contact people who made reservations to complete their transactions.
The Australian news service AAP reports that pilots with Virgin Blue, the discount carrier that operates in Australia and New Zealand, have been invited to apply to become pilots for Virgin Galactic. Similar offers have been made to pilots for other Virgin Airlines; two of Virgin Blue’s 572 pilots are expected to be selected. About half of Virgin Galactic’s pilots are expected to come from its airlines, with the rest to be recruited from NASA (which has a surplus of astronauts).
Those selected will undergo a rigorous training program lasting 27 months: nine months of jet aircraft and zero-g flight training, nine months of “mission control work”, and nine months of “flying empty Virgin Galactic Spaceships into space.” The Virgin Blue pilots selected for Virgin Galactic might end up flying their current boss: Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey is “booked on one of the first space passenger flights”; presumably he is one of Virgin Galactic’s 100 “Founders”.
Recently-retired NASA astronaut Eileen Collins returned to her hometown of Elmira, New York, over the weekend, giving the commencement address at Elmira College. The local newspaper, the Elmira Star-Gazette, used the opportunity to publish excerpts of previous interviews with Collins, including this question on space tourism:
What is your take on private space travel, and do you see that as something that will become more common and more affordable?
I am a huge supporter of getting more people in space. I think the idea of space tourism is great. The experiences I have had have been so much fun that I would like other people to have the same experiences.
In a companion article, Collins reveals she’d like to go back to space as a tourist: “I would like to be a space tourist someday, but I’m not going to go unless I know it’s safe.” Safe, like, say, the shuttle?
Sam Dinkin, founder of Space Shot, the company started earlier this year to provide suborbital space tourism prizes to people who win its weather prediction contests, let me know that the company is providing a survey to gauge interest in potential improvements to the game and the site, including different price points for entering the competition, suggestions for different ways of playing or even competitions different from the current one, predicting the weather in Central Park. As an inducement for completing the 18-question survey, Space Shot is offering two contest entries for the price of one.
Michael Belfiore revealed yesterday afternoon that not only was Bigelow Aerospace planning to unveil a new web site, it was going to announce a new service: it will fly photos or other small mementos on its prototype modules it will be launching starting this year. The first Genesis module, scheduled for launch on June 16 on a Dnepr, will carry 1,000 items provided by Bigelow employees; they will drift inside the module and be visible on video camera within the module. Starting with the Genesis 2 launch (in September if all goes well), the company will allow members of the public to fly items for a price.
The new web site went live last night. The home page looks a little cheesy, with the planet images representing various parts of the site and the cursor turning into an “alien” face that serves as a company logo, but overall the site is a step up from previous iterations. The “Fly Your Stuff” program allows people to send their photos or small items to space for $295. The company also plans to provide video feeds from both within and outside the Genesis modules. Slightly creepy, though, is the “Life and Death” feature: “We anticipate being able to display images of living systems flown aboard Bigelow Aerospace spacecraft.” What sort of “living systems” remains undefined. (Of course, if you think that’s a great idea, you can let them know through their online questionnaire.)
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