{"id":19433,"date":"2016-03-10T20:06:19","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T12:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/virgin-galactic-and-blue-origin-highlight-small-steps-toward-giant-space-leaps\/"},"modified":"2016-03-10T20:06:19","modified_gmt":"2016-03-10T12:06:19","slug":"virgin-galactic-and-blue-origin-highlight-small-steps-toward-giant-space-leaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/virgin-galactic-and-blue-origin-highlight-small-steps-toward-giant-space-leaps\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin highlight small steps toward giant space leaps"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"VSS
Virgin Galactic\u2019s second SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, known as VSS Unity, is brought out from its hangar in Mojave, Calif. A portion of the plane\u2019s WhiteKnightTwo mothership can be seen at the right edge of the frame. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the past few weeks, Richard Branson\u2019s Virgin Galactic space venture and Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture have both had a lot to talk about. Today, both companies delved more deeply into the nitty-gritty of getting rockets ready for flight.<\/p>\n

Three weeks after Virgin Galactic unveiled its second SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, known as VSS Unity, the company said it was putting the craft through integrated vehicle ground testing at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. These tests involves operating the plane\u2019s systems under ground conditions that mimic space conditions as much as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, instead of just testing our feather lock actuators at room temperature, we use liquid nitrogen to chill them down to the temperatures they will experience when performing at high altitude,\u201d Virgin Galactic said in today\u2019s update.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1Eahj_H5gVw<\/p>\n

The premature unlocking of the feathered-wing braking system was a prime factor in October 2014\u2019s tragic loss of the first SpaceShipTwo, dubbed VSS Enterprise. Virgin Galactic says it has made changes in the locking mechanisms to fix the problem.<\/p>\n

Virgin Galactic has gone back and forth in its hybrid rocket motor development program, and it acknowledged that developing SpaceShipTwo\u2019s propulsion system \u201chas certainly been one of the hardest parts of this program.\u201d But after scores of full-scale tests, the company said \u201cwe now have a very well-characterized rocket motor.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span> For our engineers, scientists, technicians, test pilots, and designers, these are the moments we live for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Captive-carry flight tests could begin later this year, depending on how the ground tests go. Virgin Galactic has shied away from saying when VSS Unity could start sending paying passengers on suborbital space rides, but it\u2019s likely to take at least a year or two.<\/p>\n

\u201cRocket motor firings aside, some of these tests on the road to Unity\u2019s first flights may not seem all that exciting, and certainly many of them don\u2019t lend themselves to great photographs or flashy videos,\u201d Virgin Galactic said. \u201cFor our engineers, scientists, technicians, test pilots, and designers, these are the moments we live for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Blue Origin is continuing work on its New Shepard suborbital spaceship, which already has made a couple of autonomously guided hops into outer space and back from the company\u2019s test range in West Texas. This week, Bezos provided journalists with their first look at the company\u2019s rocket factory in Kent, Wash. He said test pilots could start riding New Shepard into space as early as next year.<\/p>\n

\"Blue
A closeup shows a regeneratively cooled thrust chamber and rocket engine nozzle installed in Blue Origin\u2019s highly instrumented calorimeter. (Credit: Blue Origin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, Bezos sent an email update to the \u201cmany thousands\u201d of people who registered their interest in Blue Origin on the company\u2019s website. The update focused on the company\u2019s tests of the BE-4 rocket engine, which is slated for use on United Launch Alliance\u2019s next-generation Vulcan rocket rather than the New Shepard spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Bezos said two test positions were being built at the West Texas facility, in preparation for full-scale engine tests that are due to begin by the end of the year. \u201cHaving two full engine test positions will allow us to further increase the testing pace,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the many benefits of a privately funded engine development is that we can make and implement decisions quickly,\u201d Bezos said. \u201cBuilding these two new test cells is a $10 million commitment, and we as a team made the decision to move forward in 10 minutes<\/span><\/span>.  Less than three weeks later<\/span><\/span> we were pouring the needed three-foot-thick foundations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Virgin Galactic\u2019s on-the-ground checkouts and Blue Origin\u2019s rocket engine tests may not be as flashy as launching rockets to space. But it\u2019s great that both companies are keeping the world up to date on the small steps that are needed to reach the final frontier. Watch this space\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Image:
Final construction is under way on Blue Origin\u2019s isolated preburner test cell for the company\u2019s BE-4 rocket engine. (Credit: Blue Origin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virgin Galactic\u2019s second SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, known as VSS Unity, is brought out from its hangar in Mojave, Calif. A portion of the plane\u2019s WhiteKnightTwo mothership can be seen at the right edge of the frame. (Credit: Virgin Galactic) In the past few weeks, Richard Branson\u2019s Virgin Galactic space venture and Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4459,509,291,1046,1693,1973,492],"class_list":["post-19433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-be-4-rocket-engine","tag-blue-origin","tag-commercial-space","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-richard-branson","tag-spaceshiptwo","tag-virgin-galactic"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}