Concepção artítstica do SpaceShipTwo da Virgin Galactic transportado pelo WhiteKnightTwo.
O deserto Mojave, 160km ao norte de Los Angeles, é mais conhecido por seu clima inclemente e uma antiga, quase alienígena paisagem.
Segunda-feira, contudo, será o palco de um moderno espetáculo, quando Sir Richard Branson revelará o mais recente estágio de seu projeto de transformar viagens espaciais (não além da órbita terrestre) em uma proposta comercial barata.
Numa desolada pista numa extremidade do deserto, o bilionário de 59 anos abrirá a cortina para mostrar o Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) – a aeronave de composto de carbono com o tamanho de um jato Gulfstream (e um terço das dimensões das naves Endeavour ou Atlantis, da Nasa) que deverá levar passageiros além da atmosfera terrestre, à borda do espaço.
Até agora, 300 ricos aventureiros teriam se inscrito para o voo de duas horas e meia, ao custo de US$200.000 – entre os quais o físico Stephen Hawking e James Lovelock, 90, além de celebridades como o diretor de X-Men, Brian Singer, e a ex-estrela de Dallas Victoria Principal. Um voo no Virgin Galactic demandará apenas três dias de treinamento. No total, a cabine pressurizada do SS2, com 12 pés (4 metros) de comprimento leva seis "turistas espaciais" e dois pilotos para além da linha Kármán (a fronteira genericamente reconhecida do espaço, a 100 km de altitude em relação ao nível do mar). Por alguns minutos, eles experimentarão a falta de peso, enquanto olham através de janelas como as de aviões comuns, vendo a curvatura da Terra, a fina superfície da atmosfera e, talvez, outros planetas. Então, os motores terão sido desligados, e o silêncio se somará à experiência. O responsável pela engenharia do projeto é Burt Rutan, 66, especialista aeroespacial que desenvolve o SS2 há cinco anos, simultaneamente à construção do WhiteKnightTwo – a "nave mãe" com 140 pés de envergadura de asa que levará o filhote à altitude de 50.000 pés, onde ele seguirá rumo ao espaço à velocidade de 2.600 milhas por hora. A redução de peso do Virgin Galactic melhora o consumo de combustível em 60% . Enquanto cada voo das missões Space Shuttle da NASA custa US$1bilhão, um voo do Virgin Galactic (muito mais curto, e menos complexo) sai por menos de US$ 2 milhões. Branson vendeu parte do negócio a investidores em Abu Dhabi por US$280 milhões. "Ele foi projetado para ser tão seguro quanto os aviões de carreira dos anos 1920," disse. "mas não se deve acreditar que a segurança será a mesma dos aviões modernos, que voam há 70 anos. "Para Branson e a Virgin, todavia, que têm projetos de Fórmula 1 e submarinos em andamento, ultrapassar fronteiras, com risco calculado, faz parte do jogo.
An artist's impression of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo transported by WhiteKnightTwo.
The Mojave desert, 160km north of Los Angeles, is best known for its unforgiving weather and ancient, almost alien, landscape. On Monday, however, it will play host to a very modern spectacle when Sir Richard Branson unveils the latest stage of his scheme to transform space travel into a cheap, commercial proposition.
On a barren airstrip tucked into the edge of the desert, the 59-year-old billionaire will pull back the curtain on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) – the carbon-composite craft about the size of a Gulfstream jet (and a third of the size of the Space Shuttle) which aims to carry paying passengers out of the Earth's atmosphere to the brink of space.
Already, 300 wealthy adventurers are said to have signed up for the proposed $200,000, two-and-a-half-hour flights – among them scientists Stephen Hawking and 90-year-old James Lovelock, and celebrities such as X-Men director Brian Singer and former Dallas star Victoria Principal. In stark contrast to the complexity of an astronaut's training, a flight with Virgin Galactic will only require three days' pre-training.
In all, SS2's 12ft long pressurised cabin is designed to carry six "space tourists" and two pilots beyond the Kármán line (the generally acknowledged boundary of space, 100km up). For a few minutes, they will experience weightlessness while gazing out of aeroplane-style windows at the curvature of the Earth, the thin surface of the atmosphere and, perhaps, other planets. By then the rocket's engines will have been switched off, so the ensuing silence will add to the power of the experience. The engineering acumen behind this hugely ambitious project is led by 66-year-old Burt Rutan, an aerospace maverick who has broken records and barriers throughout his career. Under Rutan's direction, SS2 has been in development for nearly five years, alongside the construction of WhiteKnightTwo – the 140ft wingspan "mothership" that will ferry the smaller rocket ship 50,000ft into the sky before it detaches, then blasts up to the edge of space at up to 2,600mph.
The construction of both craft out of carbon composite materials – making them much lighter and more fuel efficient – is crucial to the success of cheap commercial space flight. WhiteKnightTwo is the largest all-composite aircraft ever built, and the weight reduction is reckoned by Virgin Galactic to improve fuel consumption by up to 60% – something that has obvious implications for the aircraft industry in the longer term.
Rutan's team have also designed SS2 to curl up or "feather" its wings once out of the atmosphere, meaning it can fall back like a shuttlecock at a near-vertical angle without the need for pilot control, before reforming its wings at 60,000ft for the final gliding descent to the "spaceport's" runway.
While each Space Shuttle mission is estimated to cost around $1bn, a Virgin Galactic flight (obviously much shorter, and far less complex) is put at less than $2m. But it is still a huge financial undertaking, and even with those 300 or so advanced bookings (flights are eventually anticipated to run once or even twice a day), Branson has sold part of the business to investors based in Abu Dhabi to bring in $280m of much-needed capital. He is surely also right when he says that "$200,000 is still too expensive for the majority of people".
The biggest challenge came in 2007, however, when an explosion at the company's factory killed three engineers and left three others seriously injured. With typical understatement, a distraught Rutan called the blast, which happened when a rocket test stand exploded during a fairly routine trial, "a tough thing". Development was put on hold for a year.
Even now, many observers remain unsure that the project can be entirely safe, and, to his credit, Rutan does not mince words on the subject, suggesting it should be compared to the early days of traditional aviation. "This is designed to be at least as safe as the early airliners in the 1920s," he has said. "But don't believe anyone who tells you that the safety will be the same as a modern airliner, which has been around for 70 years."
For Branson and Virgin, though, who also have new Formula One racing and submarine exploration projects under way, breaking boundaries and taking calculated risks are all part of the brand.
sexta-feira, 4 de dezembro de 2009
Virgin galactic
Concepção artítstica do SpaceShipTwo da Virgin Galactic transportado pelo WhiteKnightTwo.
O deserto Mojave, 160km ao norte de Los Angeles, é mais conhecido por seu clima inclemente e uma antiga, quase alienígena paisagem.
Segunda-feira, contudo, será o palco de um moderno espetáculo, quando Sir Richard Branson revelará o mais recente estágio de seu projeto de transformar viagens espaciais (não além da órbita terrestre) em uma proposta comercial barata.
Numa desolada pista numa extremidade do deserto, o bilionário de 59 anos abrirá a cortina para mostrar o Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) – a aeronave de composto de carbono com o tamanho de um jato Gulfstream (e um terço das dimensões das naves Endeavour ou Atlantis, da Nasa) que deverá levar passageiros além da atmosfera terrestre, à borda do espaço.
Até agora, 300 ricos aventureiros teriam se inscrito para o voo de duas horas e meia, ao custo de US$200.000 – entre os quais o físico Stephen Hawking e James Lovelock, 90, além de celebridades como o diretor de X-Men, Brian Singer, e a ex-estrela de Dallas Victoria Principal. Um voo no Virgin Galactic demandará apenas três dias de treinamento. No total, a cabine pressurizada do SS2, com 12 pés (4 metros) de comprimento leva seis "turistas espaciais" e dois pilotos para além da linha Kármán (a fronteira genericamente reconhecida do espaço, a 100 km de altitude em relação ao nível do mar). Por alguns minutos, eles experimentarão a falta de peso, enquanto olham através de janelas como as de aviões comuns, vendo a curvatura da Terra, a fina superfície da atmosfera e, talvez, outros planetas. Então, os motores terão sido desligados, e o silêncio se somará à experiência. O responsável pela engenharia do projeto é Burt Rutan, 66, especialista aeroespacial que desenvolve o SS2 há cinco anos, simultaneamente à construção do WhiteKnightTwo – a "nave mãe" com 140 pés de envergadura de asa que levará o filhote à altitude de 50.000 pés, onde ele seguirá rumo ao espaço à velocidade de 2.600 milhas por hora. A redução de peso do Virgin Galactic melhora o consumo de combustível em 60% . Enquanto cada voo das missões Space Shuttle da NASA custa US$1bilhão, um voo do Virgin Galactic (muito mais curto, e menos complexo) sai por menos de US$ 2 milhões. Branson vendeu parte do negócio a investidores em Abu Dhabi por US$280 milhões. "Ele foi projetado para ser tão seguro quanto os aviões de carreira dos anos 1920," disse. "mas não se deve acreditar que a segurança será a mesma dos aviões modernos, que voam há 70 anos. "Para Branson e a Virgin, todavia, que têm projetos de Fórmula 1 e submarinos em andamento, ultrapassar fronteiras, com risco calculado, faz parte do jogo.
An artist's impression of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo transported by WhiteKnightTwo.
The Mojave desert, 160km north of Los Angeles, is best known for its unforgiving weather and ancient, almost alien, landscape. On Monday, however, it will play host to a very modern spectacle when Sir Richard Branson unveils the latest stage of his scheme to transform space travel into a cheap, commercial proposition.
On a barren airstrip tucked into the edge of the desert, the 59-year-old billionaire will pull back the curtain on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) – the carbon-composite craft about the size of a Gulfstream jet (and a third of the size of the Space Shuttle) which aims to carry paying passengers out of the Earth's atmosphere to the brink of space.
Already, 300 wealthy adventurers are said to have signed up for the proposed $200,000, two-and-a-half-hour flights – among them scientists Stephen Hawking and 90-year-old James Lovelock, and celebrities such as X-Men director Brian Singer and former Dallas star Victoria Principal. In stark contrast to the complexity of an astronaut's training, a flight with Virgin Galactic will only require three days' pre-training.
In all, SS2's 12ft long pressurised cabin is designed to carry six "space tourists" and two pilots beyond the Kármán line (the generally acknowledged boundary of space, 100km up). For a few minutes, they will experience weightlessness while gazing out of aeroplane-style windows at the curvature of the Earth, the thin surface of the atmosphere and, perhaps, other planets. By then the rocket's engines will have been switched off, so the ensuing silence will add to the power of the experience. The engineering acumen behind this hugely ambitious project is led by 66-year-old Burt Rutan, an aerospace maverick who has broken records and barriers throughout his career. Under Rutan's direction, SS2 has been in development for nearly five years, alongside the construction of WhiteKnightTwo – the 140ft wingspan "mothership" that will ferry the smaller rocket ship 50,000ft into the sky before it detaches, then blasts up to the edge of space at up to 2,600mph.
The construction of both craft out of carbon composite materials – making them much lighter and more fuel efficient – is crucial to the success of cheap commercial space flight. WhiteKnightTwo is the largest all-composite aircraft ever built, and the weight reduction is reckoned by Virgin Galactic to improve fuel consumption by up to 60% – something that has obvious implications for the aircraft industry in the longer term.
Rutan's team have also designed SS2 to curl up or "feather" its wings once out of the atmosphere, meaning it can fall back like a shuttlecock at a near-vertical angle without the need for pilot control, before reforming its wings at 60,000ft for the final gliding descent to the "spaceport's" runway.
While each Space Shuttle mission is estimated to cost around $1bn, a Virgin Galactic flight (obviously much shorter, and far less complex) is put at less than $2m. But it is still a huge financial undertaking, and even with those 300 or so advanced bookings (flights are eventually anticipated to run once or even twice a day), Branson has sold part of the business to investors based in Abu Dhabi to bring in $280m of much-needed capital. He is surely also right when he says that "$200,000 is still too expensive for the majority of people".
The biggest challenge came in 2007, however, when an explosion at the company's factory killed three engineers and left three others seriously injured. With typical understatement, a distraught Rutan called the blast, which happened when a rocket test stand exploded during a fairly routine trial, "a tough thing". Development was put on hold for a year.
Even now, many observers remain unsure that the project can be entirely safe, and, to his credit, Rutan does not mince words on the subject, suggesting it should be compared to the early days of traditional aviation. "This is designed to be at least as safe as the early airliners in the 1920s," he has said. "But don't believe anyone who tells you that the safety will be the same as a modern airliner, which has been around for 70 years."
For Branson and Virgin, though, who also have new Formula One racing and submarine exploration projects under way, breaking boundaries and taking calculated risks are all part of the brand.
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