This week the Personal Spaceflight Federation announced it was changing its name to the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and unveiled a new web site at the commercialspaceflight.org domain name. Why the change from the PSF to the CSF? According to the industry association, it’s a recognition that the companies who are members do more than personal spaceflight (aka “space tourism”): “There are so many uses for commercial access to space, and we want to emphasize the broad cross-section of potential markets for our members’ products and services,” CSF president Brett Alexander said in the statement.
I had heard a few weeks earlier that this name change was in the works. One reason for the change is that, as the statement notes, members companies are not exclusively focused on space tourism. Another reason, though, may have been that the term “personal spaceflight” really hasn’t gained wide acceptance in the field, or the general public. While some might cringe at “space tourism”, you’re still far more likely to hear that term as opposed to “personal spaceflight” or other alternatives. And if you have to explain what “personal spaceflight” is every time you use the term, it may be time to switch gears.
(I will add here that while that may be the case for the PSF/CSF, I have no immediate plans to change the name of this blog.)
The CSF also announced yesterday that Mark Sirangelo is the new chairman of the organization, succeeding Alex Tai of Virgin Galactic, who is stepping down after completing a three-year term. Sirangelo is currently executive vice president of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC); he had been chairman and CEO of SpaceDev prior to that company’s acquisition by SNC.
Flightglobal.com reports that WhiteKnightTwo has completed two more test flights in recent days, which appear to clear the way for the aircraft to make its first long-distance flight on Friday to fly over the groundbreaking ceremonies for Spaceport America in New Mexico. A one-hour test flight on June 11th (as noted in the flight logs) was monitored by the FAA, giving pilot Pete Siebold a type rating on the aircraft. A ninth test flight on Monday, not yet in the logs, apparently was planned to be the highest yet, approaching altitudes of 50,000 feet (15,000 meters). [Update: according to the flight logs, this was a 7.5-hour flight that reached 52,400 feet (16,000 m).]
WhiteKnightTwo’s test program continued this week with a seventh test flight, Scaled Composites revealed in the test logs for the program. The flight set new records for altitude (45,000 feet/13,700 meters), speed (340 knots/630 km/h) and duration (6.1 hours). Plans still call for the aircraft to make a flyby at the Spaceport America groundbreaking next Friday in New Mexico.
So who is Barbara Barrett? Her Wikipedia bio describes her as an “International business and aviation attorney, Businesswoman, Diplomat, [and] Rancher.” Among other accomplishments, she has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and became the first civilian woman to land an F/A-18 on an aircraft carrier (although there is some debate in the talk page associated with the Wikipedia entry about whether she actually landed the plane or was just along for the ride.) She served briefly as US ambassador to Finland last year and has been on a number of boards, including the Aerospace Corporation. She is also married to Craig Barrett, the retired CEO and chairman of Intel.
WhiteKnightTwo (aka “VMS Eve”) has made its sixth test flight, according to a tweet from Virgin Galactic. The flight was a success and reached a peak altitude of 10,670 meters (35,000 feet), according to the statement, which would make it the highest test flight to date. As of midday Thursday the flight hadn’t yet appeared in the WK2 flight logs Scaled has been publishing about the test program.
At the International Space Development Conference in Orlando last week Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn said that they would do some high altitude test flights in advance of their first planned long distance flight on June 19 for the Spaceport America groundbreaking, so it looks like this flight is part of that effort.
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) made an unusual announcement Monday: it would hold a press conference Thursday morning about the first Canadian space tourist, who would perform “the first philanthropic mission to the International Space Station”. The identity of that person, and the nature of that mission, were not immediately disclosed.
Another area of interest is what the CSA’s role is in this mission. They are participating in the press conference, with CSA president Steve Maclean scheduled to speak. Canada’s standing on the ISS is higher now than ever, with Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk already on the station for a long-duration mission and another Canadian, Julie Payette, scheduled to visit the station later this month on the STS-127 shuttle mission.
While there’s been talk for years about the first wedding or honeymoon in space using suborbital vehicles from Virgin Galactic or Rocketplane Global, one couple is going for a related first: the first wedding in zero-g. Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan are planning to hold a press conference this evening in New York to discuss their plans to get married on June 20th while in weightlessness, although not in space: they’ll be on a ZERO-G Corporation aircraft. “For this very special day, the bride will be wearing a zero-gravity wedding dress designed by Eri Matsui, a Japanese haute couture designer,” according to the media alert emailed earlier today. “The groom will be fitted with a specially-designed tuxedo courtesy of J. Lucas Clothiers, with tails crafted specially to take advantage of zero gravity conditions.” No pictures yet of the unique clothing, although presumably the wedding gown will be similar to what Matsui unveiled a few years ago.
In his speech at the International Space Development Conference in Orlando this morning, Will Whitehorn confirmed some earlier speculation and said that WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) will make its first long-distance flight on June 19 and put in an appearance over Spaceport America during its groundbreaking ceremony that day. The plan is (weather permitting) that WK2 will take off from Mojave, fly to and over the spaceport, and return to Mojave without stopping. An exact flight plan may be published before the flight to allow people to try and observe it along the way.
In the meantime he said that they will perform a couple more test flights at higher altitudes to test the performance there. They still plan to fly WK2 to Oshkosh, Wisconsin in late July for the AirVenture air show there.
Regarding SpaceShipTwo, Whitehorn said they current plans call for flight tests to begin by the end of the year, featuring glide tests. He didn’t state when powered flight tests of SS2 might begin, but did hint that they would start flying customers in the next 18-24 months.
Virgin Galactic announced this morning that the company has successfully carried out its first full-scale engine tests for SpaceShipTwo. Virgin released a video featuring the tests along with a press release:
Neither the video nor the press release provide much in the way of technical details about the engine tests, other than the engine is the largest hybrid engine of its type ever. Both do play up the “low environmental impact” of this propulsion system, and the potential applications beyond space tourism for future space transportation systems using such technology. (Server farms in space?)
Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn is scheduled to speak later this morning at the International Space Development Conference in Orlando. I’ll be there and report on any other announcements or developments he provides there.
The text of the press release is below:
SUCCESSFUL SPACESHIPTWO ROCKET MOTOR TESTING
Virgin Galactic today announces the successful completion of the first phase of tests of the rocket motor that will propel space tourists, scientists and payloads into space.
In the desert of southern California, Virgin Galactic’s key supplier Scaled Composites and its subcontractor SNC (Sierra Nevada Corporation) have successfully completed the first tests of the innovative rocket motor that will propel space tourists, scientists and payloads into space. The hybrid Nitrous Oxide system being used is the largest of its kind in the world and it will send Virgin’s customers up into sub-orbital space at speeds over 2500 mph (4000kmh), to heights over 65 miles (110km) above the Earth’s surface, before the spaceship descends back down through the atmosphere using its pioneering feathered re-entry system.
Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic said: “As Virgin Galactic gets ever closer to the start of commercial operations, we are reaching and passing many important and historic milestones. The Virgin MotherShip (VMS) Eve, the first of our amazing, all carbon composite, high altitude WhiteKnightTwo launch vehicles, is flying superbly. SpaceShipTwo, which will air launch from Eve, is largely constructed and awaiting the start of its own test flight programme later this year.â€
The rocket motor burns for a very short period of time because the spaceship is launched from VMS Eve in the upper atmosphere, rather than from ground level. This means much less fuel is required, and the fuel burn is more environmentally benign than the solid rockets used in most ground based systems.
While the rocket motor is extremely powerful, it is also completely controllable. This system can – if necessary – be shut down at any time, allowing the spaceship to glide back down to land at a conventional runway. This is a significant feature in the overall safety of the Virgin system for human space flight.
Sir Richard continues: “Less fuel and clean fuel all add up to a space launch system which will be completely unprecedented in its low environmental impact compared with current space flight. The spaceship’s carbon footprint for each of its passengers and crew will be about a quarter of that for a return trip from London to New York, demonstrating again the extraordinary benefits that new technology can bring to the quest for clean transportation.â€
“We believe space is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution. Virgin Galactic’s mission has always been to transform the safety, cost and environmental impact of access to space. Not just for passengers, but also for a range of important scientific purposes, and to send small satellites into orbit. The world’s scientific community is united in recognising that making better use of space will be vital to mankind’s ability to manage the huge future challenges of life back here on Earth.â€
The rocket motor will continue a series of exhaustive tests, and the spaceship itself will start flight testing later this year. The testing programme for the rocket, the spaceship and VMS Eve will be extensive.
Update 12:30 pm: I talked briefly with Whitehorn after his ISDC speech. He wasn’t immediately certain about the length of these initial engine tests, but believe that they were at least 30 seconds long. Another set of engine tests, of longer duration, is scheduled to start in a week or so.
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