WhiteKnightTwo test thread

[Dr Mordrid]

WhiteKnightTwo is of course Virgin Galactic and Burt Rutan's mothership for SpaceShipTwo, and now it appears to be fated to be a test vehicle for NASA, the military and private space companies. Lots of folks interested in this beast.

With its maiden flight coming in a week or two some footage is coming out of taxi runs at the Mohave Spaceport. The test took place Friday, Dec 12 at about 1500h local time;

Video Link....

Updates as they come....captive carry flights of SS2 itself should start in a 3 months +\-

[KRSESQ]

OMG you mean they're actually going to try and fly that thing?

Kevin

[Dr Mordrid]

Yup, and since the specs were published word has circulated that they upped its ceiling altitude from 60,000 to 70,000 feet.

WK2-1 is to be christened "Eve" while WK2-2 is rumored to be christened "Spirit of Steve Fossett" after the late adventurer who was a friend of both Burt Rutan and Sir Richad Branson. If successful at least 50 will be built.

The WK2 single wing spar is the largest single composite aviation structure in manufacture at 140 feet, and it's design is patented six ways to Sunday. WK2 itself is the largest composite aircraft in the world.

Many, many companies want licenses for using this tech as it could allow for very light wings on aircraft that would make all current models look puny. Burt Rutan and his boys strike again.

Think of it not so much as an aircraft but as the first stage of a spacecraft launch system, and bigger versions of it are extremely likely. This one has the wing span of a B-29 and rumors are that the next version could be as large as a 747 - about 211 feet. Some engineers say that WK2 is already big enough to launch a small 1-man orbital spacecraft given the correct second stage.

Here's a new image of the WK2/SS2 stack....

[Jammrock]

I'm excited, personally. I think privatized space agencies will force the big government agencies to get their act together.

[Dr Mordrid]

I'm excited, personally. I think privatized space agencies will force the big government agencies to get their act together.

That or government agencies will make use of them.

NASA itself is already talking of using SS2 for short missions and astronaut training. Signs are also strong that the Obama administration is not happy with the Ares/Orion program (why should they be?) and sitting on the door step is SpaceX and its Falcon 9/Dragon/DragonLab systems.

[Dr Mordrid]

She flew for 1 hour Sunday;

Link....

These two videos are way too short, but they're all we have for now. More coming I'm sure....

Takeoff....

Landing....

SpaceShipTwo Carrier Craft Makes Successful First Flight

A carrier aircraft designed to be the first stage of a commercial spaceline system made its maiden test flight today at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

Designed by Scaled Composites, the huge and unique WhiteKnightTwo mothership rolled down the runway and muscled itself into the air using four Pratt and Whitney PW308A turbofan engines. The WhiteKnightTwo flew for about an hour, departing the runway at roughly 8:17 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, safely touching down at the Mojave Air and Space Port at approximately 9:17 a.m. PST.

"It's a big day," said Stuart Witt, general manager of Mojave Air and Space Port. "I think it's a real reflective time. When everybody's looking for a bailout, there are still people that are doing something for a much larger reason," he told SPACE.com.

After a number of shakeout flights, the WhiteKnightTwo is to be outfitted with the now-under-construction SpaceShipTwo. That rocket plane is also being built by Scaled Composites of Mojave, California. Ultimately WhiteKnightTwo is to carry the space plane to altitude, where it will then detach and head for suborbital space flights.

The WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo combo is to serve as the backbone of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceline operations.

Virgin Galactic has on order five SpaceShipTwo rocket planes and two of the carrier craft, with options on more.

Given a progressive roster of test evaluations at the Mojave Air and Space Port, the spaceline system is to be commercially operated at the now-under-construction Spaceport America in New Mexico. The price tag per seat on the two pilot/six passenger suborbital SpaceShipTwo is $200,000.

Flight details

The hour-long test flight of WhiteKnightTwo made use of a minimum flight test crew.

"And here we are on a Sunday morning...in a place out here in the middle of nowhere and really neat stuff is happening. It just looked beautiful," Witt said. "What brings people to this desolate landscape on a Sunday morning in December is more about what forced them here. Innovation by the private sector is a void being filled because NASA deserted 90 percent of the sandbox and left it open for us to fill."

A witness to the flight was Dick Rutan who in December 1986 piloted the Voyager aircraft around the world non-stop with the assistance of Jeana Yeager. He is brother of Burt Rutan, Chief Technology Officer and Chairman Emeritus of Scaled Composites.

"It all went well...all the big things worked well," Rutan told SPACE.com. "Overall, 99 percent on target and everybody is really happy. You get an airplane that's this weird and get it up and get it down...and it's safe on deck."

Commercial space program

In 2004, a smaller WhiteKnight carrier plane cradled SpaceShipOne – a launch system that made possible the first non-governmental piloted rocket ship to fly to the edge of space. Back-to-back flights of SpaceShipOne that year earned the Scaled Composites team, $10 million in Ansari X Prize money.

On Dec. 15, the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) announced that Spaceport America has received its Record of Decision and license for vertical and horizontal launch operations from the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

In related news, a few days later, the NMSA announced the selection of Gerald Martin Construction Management of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to oversee the construction of Spaceport America.

The governmental approvals and the selection of the construction firm are the next steps along the road to a fully operational commercial spaceport, noted NMSA Executive Director Steven Landeene. "We are on track to begin construction in the first quarter of 2009, and have our facility completed as quickly as possible," Landeene said in a press statement.

The NMSA is expected to have a signed lease agreement with Virgin Galactic later this month.

The NMSA currently projects vertical launch activity at Spaceport America to increase in 2009 and construction to also begin next year on the terminal and hangar facility to be utilized for Virgin Galactic operations. Those structures would be completed by late 2010.