Virgin Galactic Tests SpaceShipTwo Rocket

May 29, 2009 — It’s a blast, but definitely not from the past. Virgin Galactic announced this week that they have successfully completed the first tests of the rocket motor that will propel space tourists, scientists and payloads into space. (Watch the video.) The hybrid nitrous oxide system being used is the largest of its kind in the world. It will send Virgin’s customers up into sub-orbital space at speeds of more than 2,500 mph to heights over 65 miles above the Earth’s surface, before the spaceship descends back down through the atmosphere using its pioneering feather re-entry system. The rocket motor burns for a very short period of time because SpaceShipTwo is launched from the Virgin mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, in the upper atmosphere, rather than from ground level. This means much less fuel is required, and the fuel burn is more environmentally benign than the solid rockets used in most ground-based systems, according to a company press release. While the rocket motor is extremely powerful, it is also completely controllable. This system can - if necessary - be shut down at any time, allowing the spaceship to glide back down to land at a conventional runway. Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, said: “Less fuel and clean fuel all add up to a space launch system which will be completely unprecedented in its low environmental impact compared with current space flight. The spaceship’s carbon footprint for each of its passengers and crew will be about a quarter of that for a return trip from London to New York." The rocket motor will continue a series of exhaustive tests, and SpaceShipTwo itself will start flight-testing later this year. WhiteKnightTwo is well into its flight-testing regime. On its fifth test flight on May 20, the space launch vehicle flew for approximately 3 hours at a maximum altitude of 20,000 feet. The four-engine jet, nicknamed "Eve" after Branson's mother, will make its pubic debut and flight demonstrations at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this year.

Virgin Galactic has begun testing the rocket motor that will propel tourists and others into space. Photo credit: Virgin Galactic The rocket motor uses a hybrid nitrous oxide system. Photo credit: Virgin Galactic

• 2012 - 02/22 - Borschberg Begins Simulated 72-Hour Solar Flight
• 2012 - 02/20 - NASA Celebrates 50 Years of Americans in Space
• 2012 - 02/16 - Tiny Robots Swarm Fly in Formation
• 2012 - 02/16 - Civil War Balloon Replica to Take Flight This Summer
• 2012 - 02/09 - Application Deadline Approaches for EAA Scholarship