REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Space, the final frontier

POSTED BY: WHOZIT
UPDATED: Monday, October 11, 2010 20:22
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Sunday, October 10, 2010 12:07 PM

WHOZIT




And for $200.000 you can vist it soon.

http://www.virgingalactic.com






Those arn't boobs, they're lies! - Stewie Griffin

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Sunday, October 10, 2010 3:06 PM

OUT2THEBLACK


Cool thread , Whoz...

From the press release :

VSS Enterprise achieves manned free flight from over 45,000 ft (13,700 metres) and successfully glides to land at Mojave Air and Spaceport.

10th October 2010, Mojave, CA. Virgin Galactic, the US company developing the world’s first commercial manned space flight system and tourism business, is delighted to announce the successful completion today of the first piloted free flight of SpaceShipTwo, named the VSS Enterprise. The spaceship was released from its mothership at an altitude of 45,000 ft
(13,700 metres).

During its first flight the spaceship was piloted by Pete Siebold, assisted by Mike Alsbury as co-pilot. The two main goals of the flight were to carry out a clean release of the spaceship from its mothership and for the pilots to free fly and glide back and land at Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

Other detailed objectives of the flight were successfully completed, including; verification that all systems worked prior and following the clean release of Enterprise; initial evaluation of handling and stall characteristics; qualitative evaluation of stability and control of SS2 against predictions from design and simulation work; verification of performance by evaluating the lift-to-drag ratio of the spaceship during glide flight; practice a landing approach at altitude and finally descend and land.

Preparations for the milestone flight were extensive. The WhiteKnightTwo mothership (Eve) flew 40 times including 4 captive carry flights of spaceship and mothership mated together. The most recent captive carry was on Sept 30th. The most recent solo flight was on October 5th and demonstrated that all the systems required for a free flight by the VSS Enterprise were functioning correctly without any safety issues. Commenting on the successful flight Scaled Composites pilot, Pete Siebold, said “The VSS Enterprise was a real joy to fly, especially when one considers the fact that the vehicle has been designed not only to be a Mach 3.5 spaceship capable of going into space but also one of the worlds highest altitude gliders.”

Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, who was present during the first successful flight, added “This was one of the most exciting days in the whole history of Virgin. For the first time since we seriously began the project in 2004, I watched the world’s first manned commercial spaceship landing on the runway at Mojave Air and Space Port and it was a great moment. Now, the sky is no longer the limit and we will begin the process of pushing beyond to the final frontier of space itself over the next year.”

Virgin Galactic is now well on the way to becoming the world’s first commercial space line with 370 customer deposits totalling $50 million. Future commercial operations will be at Spaceport America in New Mexico where final preparations are taking place for a finished runway inauguration ceremony on Friday 22nd October 2010. National Geographic channel in the United States will be showing a documentary on the build up and preparation for the first flight of VSS Enterprise on Monday, 18 October at 10.00pm ET/PT.

George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic who was also present at the historic flight, added “To see the world’s first manned commercial spaceship landing on a runway is a sight I always dreamed I would behold. Now, our challenge going forward will be to complete our experimental program, obtain our FAA licence and safely bring the system into service at Spaceport America, New Mexico.”




View of the cockpit looking forward ; seems as if it could be from one of Serenity's shuttles.
Sort of 'Steampunk' , don'tcha think ?
I really like the yawstring taped to the center windscreen.



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Sunday, October 10, 2010 3:15 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!



The Gov't should mandate that for every 100 rich people going into space, 1 poor person should get to go too, for free.

"The modern definition of 'racist' is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal."


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Sunday, October 10, 2010 3:25 PM

OUT2THEBLACK


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:

The Gov't should mandate that for every 100 rich people going into space, 1 poor person should get to go too, for free.




First fascism , and then welfare ?

A more equitable approach would be a voluntary contribution of a dollar toward a free-enterprise space lottery , which would be a pyramid scheme of sorts , whereby those who do the best marketing and recruitment improve their odds of winning a spaceflight , on each step of the pyramid.

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Sunday, October 10, 2010 6:07 PM

OUT2THEBLACK




Coming October 18th on NGC...

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Sunday, October 10, 2010 7:46 PM

OUT2THEBLACK


Video of the 10-10-10 Glide Flight , just issued :


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Sunday, October 10, 2010 7:57 PM

CHRISISALL


Absolutely cool. I'm saving up for my ticket now.


The laughing Chrisisall


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Monday, October 11, 2010 6:26 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I agree in that it's fascinating and cool. My only argument would be that space isn't the "final frontier" at all; the oceans are.


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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Monday, October 11, 2010 6:52 AM

BYTEMITE


Quote:

Originally posted by out2theblack:
Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:

The Gov't should mandate that for every 100 rich people going into space, 1 poor person should get to go too, for free.




First fascism , and then welfare ?

A more equitable approach would be a voluntary contribution of a dollar toward a free-enterprise space lottery , which would be a pyramid scheme of sorts , whereby those who do the best marketing and recruitment improve their odds of winning a spaceflight , on each step of the pyramid.



I dunno... You say equitable, then you say pyramid scheme. While I agree that I'm not sure government mandate is the way to go, I'm going to say that AU has a point here, and it's less so much "fascism, then welfare" and more "making sure enough poor people go into space so travelers don't get space lost and starve." Or possibly "keeping common sense in the gene pool."

I know not one rich person who knows how to plow a damn field, or find their ass without a GPS.

And, let's face it, they eat "sea urchin."



If they can't tell food from their own shit, they need all the help they can get.

For me, my thinking is if a business invents spaceflight, and the corporations conspire to keep everyone well controlled and earthbound, instead of doing the sensible thing and making a profit off fuel-slavery for 50 year old $2500 clunkers for everyone, then I will be very unhappy!

...At least then we can go AWAY from them, and stop using the fuel hogs when we settle, even if we still have to pay for the privilege. There's probably still better ideas than that, but if it's giving everyone a chance, that may be the best we can realistically hope for.

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Monday, October 11, 2010 9:40 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by Niki2:I agree in that it's fascinating and cool. My only argument would be that space isn't the "final frontier" at all; the oceans are.



yeah - oceans on other planets !




** and for those who DIDN'T catch on, I was JOKING about forcing anyone to take along a free loader into space. If they want to set up a lottery, fine, but by no means does anyone have the RIGHT to ride for free.


"The modern definition of 'racist' is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal."


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Monday, October 11, 2010 4:11 PM

FREMDFIRMA



Byte, if you can find that old study about just how fast a colony would break relations the very INSTANT it was even close to self-sufficient, even if over 70% of the personnel were planted ringers, you'd be quite fascinated with it, as well as have a deeper understanding of why the powers that be DO NOT want us out there...

Cause that puts us out of the reach of their threats, you see, and soon enough, we'd stop taking their shit, and paying their tribute, and when it *DID* come to threats, well, sure, they might be able to shove an A-bomb up a gravity well, but a conflict like that is not cost effective, nor is it sensible to mess with someone on top of a gravity well when you're at the bottom, cause all they gotta do is drop a rock, yanno ?

Doesn't even take much, I don't have the math, but one of the physics geeks explained it as like standing on top of the sears tower with a dozen bowling balls trying to hit a single story ranch house at the bottom - chances are, you're GOING to hit it, at least once.

Thus, having thought this through previously, the powers that be absolutely, positively, do NOT want us getting off this rock - did it really escape anyones notice that our whole "space" program for the past many years has been nothing more than shoving satellites into orbit for the corpies and intel goons, and maintaining them ?

We have almost zero deep space experience or tech, and that is by design and intent, not by accident.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, October 11, 2010 6:12 PM

OUT2THEBLACK


Quote:

Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

Byte, if you can find that old study about just how fast a colony would break relations the very INSTANT it was even close to self-sufficient, even if over 70% of the personnel were planted ringers, you'd be quite fascinated with it, as well as have a deeper understanding of why the powers that be DO NOT want us out there...

...Thus, having thought this through previously, the powers that be absolutely, positively, do NOT want us getting off this rock - did it really escape anyones notice that our whole "space" program for the past many years has been nothing more than shoving satellites into orbit for the corpies and intel goons, and maintaining them ?

We have almost zero deep space experience or tech, and that is by design and intent, not by accident.

-Frem



That's why such a subversive TV show as Firefly had to be killed in its crib...Might give people ideas!

Imagine , Just Folk , flying all over the 'Verse , basically unsupervised in their own spaceship , whilst toting guns!

Can't be allowed to happen...Can't have the slaves getting all uppity and whatnot...

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Monday, October 11, 2010 6:59 PM

BYTEMITE


Yeah I know. Which bugs me, they're so obsessed about control.

You can take off a leash, but it's significantly harder to break out of a cage. They keep choosing the cage, even though they'd see better results from the leash.

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Monday, October 11, 2010 8:22 PM

DMAANLILEILTT


Wow, for a second there I thought you were becoming socialist.

"I really am ruggedly handsome, aren't I?"

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