VirginGalactic is moving beyond space tourism with the development of LauncherOne, a reusable launch vehicle to take satellites into orbit. Check it out here: http://www.virgingalactic.com/launcherone
Printable View
VirginGalactic is moving beyond space tourism with the development of LauncherOne, a reusable launch vehicle to take satellites into orbit. Check it out here: http://www.virgingalactic.com/launcherone
So is this two Burt Rutan designs competing with each other? Maybe they ought to get together. Or perhaps they already have.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/12...-up-for-orbit/
By the way, we're still waiting here in Southern New Mexico to see a return on our tax dollars going to Spaceport America to support Virgin Galactic. Last word was Galactic wanted the brand new runway extended 2000 feet, thank you. When I flew over it a couple weeks ago, they hadn't started doing that.
That's just the "First stage" of SpaceshipTwo, with an unmanned booster, right? Looks like it's got about half the capacity as Orbital's Pegasus XL/L-1011 combination. Success will depend on the price. However, Orbital has really capitalized on sending multiple small payloads into orbit with a single launch vehicle, so the price difference for 500 pounds might be a wash.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zack Baughman
But then I'm spoiled, I worked on a payload that launched on Pegasus....
Ron Wanttaja
I was lucky enough to see the L-1011/Pegasus mate-up in person a number of times at Vandenberg AFB ten or twelve years ago. Very impressive operation. Still wear my Orbital Sciences hat from time to time!