Rocket Science for the Rest of Us

Here's the photo from it from Google Earth, but the satellite coordinates are wrong:

Can anyone find this on Google?  How will I ever get to drive there if I can't get directions?  What a tragedy--I can't get to space because I can't find the vac'ing spaceport!

The spaceport is actually owned by the State of New Mexico and leased to Virgin Galactic.  Other companies have used it for launching from the spaceport as well.  Virgin Galactic said they picked the area for several reasons:

• World's first purpose-built commercial spaceport
• Estimated construction cost $209 million
• Stable weather, dry climate
• 4,600 ft. altitude above sea level means nearly the first mile of vertical travel is "free"!
• Low population density around Spaceport America
• Congestion-free, shared restricted airspace with neighboring White Sands Missile Range
• Long local history of spaceflight pioneering and innovation

The runway is almost two miles long and is, of course, designed for the horizontal take-off of White Night Two.  (It's apparently not the longest runway in the Mohave, however.)  There 's a training area for the astronauts as well as things for visitors to see.  (Probably a nice gift shop, thought you can get the stuff online, too.)  A lot of the spaceport is dug into the ground to protect it from the extreme temperatures of New Mexico.  And you have to admit, it looks very cool.

Now that they have nifty new facilities, they're starting "shakedown cruises" with the goal of first commercial flights this year or next.  They have over 400 people with tickets. 

If you want to learn more about it, check out http://www.spaceportamerica.com.

Virgin Galactic has an unusual idea for a spaceship.  While theirs is plane shaped and lands like the Shuttle, it attaches to a larger plane which lifts it up to 50 or 60 thousand feet and drops it, after which it uses its own rocket motors to leave the atmosphere.  Virgin Galactic says it's cheaper, easier and more environmentally friendly.

The technology was proven in the X Prize, with Spaceship One, carried by White Knight One.  Since then, they've improved it with passengers in mind.  Spaceship Two can carry six passengers and two pilots.  It has large circular windows so you will have good views of the Earth as you play in zero G (and they advertise lots of room in the cabin to do summersalts and flips.

The ship itself is made of carbon composite materials.  Carbon composites are lighter weight, tolerate extreme heat better, and have less propensity to warp or fracture. 

Here's a video showing the ship itself.




Another interesting feature are the wings on Spaceship Two, which change position.  This helps the craft orient itself naturally in the atmosphere for landing, reducing the chance of catastrophe during re-entry.  They call it "feathered flight."  Here's a  full explanation from a Virgin Galactic press release of April 5, 2011.

Perhaps the most innovative safety feature employed by SpaceshipOne and now SpaceShipTwo is the unique way it returns into the dense atmosphere from the vacuum of space. This part of space flight has always been considered as one of the most technically challenging and dangerous and Burt Rutan was determined to find a failsafe solution which remained true to Scaled Composite’s philosophy of safety through simplicity. His inspiration for what is known as the feathered re-entry was the humble shuttlecock, which like SpaceShipTwo relies on aerodynamic design and laws of physics to control speed and attitude.

Once out of the atmosphere the entire tail structure of the spaceship can be rotated upwards to about 65º. The feathered configuration allows an automatic control of attitude with the fuselage parallel to the horizon. This creates very high drag as the spacecraft descends through the upper regions of the atmosphere. The feather configuration is also highly stable, effectively giving the pilot a hands-free re-entry capability, something that has not been possible on spacecraft before, without resorting to computer controlled fly-by-wire systems. The combination of high drag and low weight (due to the very light materials used to construct the vehicle) mean that the skin temperature during re-entry stays very low compared to previous manned spacecraft and thermal protection systems such as heat shields or tiles are not needed. During a full sub-orbital spaceflight, at around 70,000ft following re-entry, the feather lowers to its original configuration and the spaceship becomes a glider for the flight back to the spaceport runway.

And here's a video of the test flight.  (It was also the third flight in 12 days--talk about turnaround!):

What could be more representative of the American space program? Yet  it is so much more!

When I told one of my friends that I was creating a blog about the space industry, she asked, "Is there a space industry after Obama killed NASA?"


First, let's assume for this article, we're talking about manned space and exploration, rather than the thriving industry of putting satellites into orbit so we can get better cell phone reception.


She's referring to Obama's 2010 budget proposal that cancelled the Constellation program, which was supposed to replace the space shuttle and eventually get us to the moon (2020.)  Here's an article in Discovery about it.  And another in Scientific American.  This might indeed seem a death knell for space, or at least for manned space, but there are several things to consider.


First, the Constellation program was already overbudget and experiencing a lot of technical problems.  (Universe  Today reported in Feb 1, 2010, "Also, its estimate costs through 2015 have risen from $28 billion in 2006 to $44 billion today.")  There was also doubts about it being able to meet its deadlines of manned flight by 2015 and the moon by 2020.


What about the shuttle?  It was simply at the end of its life.  The technology was so old, that to repair the shuttle, NASA was having to search the Internet for spare parts.  President Bush actually canceled the shuttle program because we couldn't physically support the craft any longer.  


However, at the same time that President Obama called for the cancellation of the program, he recommended increasing NASA's budget for it to concentrate on other things--increasing the life of the ISS, promoting innovation and technologies, and exploring further on.   As columnist Phil Plait said, "NASA can concentrate on what it should: innovation, pushing the limits, paving the road. Once the road is laid, let others use it."


So, are there others to use the road?  Let's start with the fact that the ISS is International, and other nations have been servicing it, including the European Space Agency and the Russians, who are--or rather were--flying the astronauts to the station when the Shuttle wasn't.  (They recently had trouble with their Soyuz capsules, and now we're not sure we will keep astronauts on the station--weep!--but that's another story.)  So the space industry as a whole will continue, even if NASA died, which it isn't.


In addition, American commercial space is growing--and Obama has given it a nice void to fill.  There are already many companies striving to fulfill the dream of manned space:

• Armadillo Aerospace (suborbital focused)
• Bigelow 
• Blue Origin (suborbital focused)
• Boeing
• Orbital
• Sierra Nevada Corp
• Space X
• United Launch Alliance (serves the military; not sure they're looking at manned)
• Virgin Galactic (suborbital focused)

(Rob gave me this list.  If we missed any, let me know.)  There are also a lot of budding industries to build the craft, make the fuel, create the engines, etc.


Later this week, I'll share an article about how some of these companies are already moving into Cape Canaveral (or negotiating to).  But for now, the answer to my friend's question is, "Yes, Virginia, there still is a space industry."

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after its test mission.

* Since I have a follower named Virginia, I'd like to state for the record that she did not ask this, but I could not resist the play off the title.