SpaceShipTwo

Автор yos, 24.01.2008 03:02:48

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Olaf

https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/951518020534525953
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VMS Eve has landed, completing today's test. Crew today were pilots CJ Sturckow, Kelly Latimer & flight test engr Richard Starke 

triage

#781
Цитировать https://twitter.com/richardbranson/status/951506009717182465
17:28 - 11 янв. 2018 г.
Exciting day for @virgingalactic with #SpaceShipTwo dropping down fr om 50,000ft straight down at 0.9 Mach - (hopefully) final glide test flight

Цитироватьhttps://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/951632073306947584
1:49 - 12 янв. 2018 г.

It was a beautiful day for flying in Mojave, CA today! Here's a shot of VSS Unity after being released from her mothership, VMS Eve on her 7th glide flight. Getting #NMReady #SpaceShipTwo

Цитировать https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/951673112487116800
4:32 - 12 янв. 2018 г.

ICYMI VSS Unity completed her 7th glide flight test this morning. For more information on today's flight head to our website http://virg.in/J5G  #SpaceShipTwo Getting #NMReady

Цитировать https://www.virgingalactic.com/update-from-mojave-vss-unity-successfully-completes-high-speed-glide-flight/
January 11, 2018
Update From Mojave: VSS Unity Successfully Completes High Speed Glide Flight
January blues? Not a problem in Mojave today as VSS Unity successfully completed her seventh glide flight!
It's been a few months since our last flight, during which we worked through a planned period of focused ground time. This involved extensive analysis, testing and small modifications to ensure vehicle readiness for the higher loads and forces of powered test flight. Today we tested that work by pushing Unity's atmospheric capabilities hard, touching top-end glide speeds as pilots Mark 'Forger' Stucky and Michael 'Sooch' Masucci completed a busy test card.
Alongside confirming the work that has taken place on the ground, the glide flight tested transonic flight performance, stability and control. After release from mothership VMS Eve, the spaceship was immediately pushed into a sharp descent, accelerating to Mach 0.9 which is around the maximum airspeed we can achieve without igniting the rocket motor!

At this stage of the glide flight programme, each flight is essentially a dry run for rocket-powered test flights. Wh ere possible the team replicates those powered flight conditions by, for example, adding water ballast to simulate the weight and positioning of the rocket motor. As during previous flights, the water ballast was jettisoned at around 22,000 feet, allowing the pilots to complete the flight and land in a lighter configuration, again simulating the conditions which will apply during space flight. Also as a precursor to powered flight, VSS Unity flew today with her thermal protection system (TPS) fully applied. This ensures that heat loads generated by air friction during rocket-powered boost and supersonic re-entry cause no damage to the vehicle. It's a good look though, with the upper surfaces of the previously white feather flaps now covered in a protective silvered film.
Congratulations to Forger and Sooch, as well as VMS Eve crew, CJ Sturckow, Kelly Latimer and Richard Starke, for a well-executed flight, supported of course by the Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company teams on the ground.
....

Olaf


tnt22

ЦитироватьOlaf пишет:
# VirginGalactic # SpaceShipTwo Powered Flight Set for Thursday Morning
http://parabolicarc.com/2018/04/05/vg-thought-piece/#undefined.uxfs
ЦитироватьVirgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Powered Flight Set for Thursday Morning

April 5, 2018 | Doug Messier

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor


The preliminaries are over. And now the moment of truth has arrived for Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

Almost 3.5 years after SpaceShipTwo Enterprise broke up during a flight test on Halloween 2014, the company is scheduled to conduct the first powered flight of SpaceShipTwo Unity later this morning fr om the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The test was preceded by seven glide flights.

I'll be providing live updates on the flight on Twitter @spacecom.
Спойлер
The stakes are very high for a program that has seen two fatal accidents and four deaths since Richard Branson launched it in September 2014. It's not clear whether Virgin Galactic would survive a third catastrophic accident.

While Enterprise was built and flight tested by Scaled Composites, Unity is a product of Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company, which is also owned by Branson's Virgin Group.

Word has it that Unity will burn its hybrid nitrous oxide-rubber engine for 30 seconds after being dropped from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft at around 50,000 feet. This will be 50 percent longer than the 20-seconds engine burns performed by Enterprise on its second and third flight tests in 2013 and 2014.

It's not clear exactly what altitude the spacecraft will reach, but previous flights provide some clues. Enterprise reached 71,000 feet with a 20-second engine burn on its third flight. The plan was to reach 135,000 to 138,000 feet with a 38-second burn on the fourth flight before the vehicle broke up about 12 seconds after engine ignition.
[свернуть]
So, a 30-second burn should probably get Unity somewh ere north of 100,000 feet. How much heavier (or lighter) Unity is compared with its predecessor, and the degree to which engineers have been able to improved performance of the hybrid engine, will affect the ship's performance.

The spacecraft will go supersonic and will use its feather system — which re-configures the vehicle's twin tail booms to slow the vehicle down — during its descent toward the spaceport.
Спойлер
The premature unlocking and deployment of the feather system during powered ascent caused Enterprise to break up. Unity has been redesigned to prevent a recurrence of that fatal error.

The main uncertainty for today's flight is the weather, specifically the spring winds that have been battering Mojave over the past week. On the final flight of Enterprise, the spacecraft was limited to ground-level crosswinds of only 10 mph (16 kph) for landing. Upper level winds could also be an issue today.
[свернуть]

Olaf

https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/981891353045970945
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Our team is prepping for a #SpaceShipTwo flight test today
 

 


tnt22


tnt22

ЦитироватьParabolicarc.com‏ @spacecom 5 мин. назад

#VirginGalactic #SpaceShipTwo on end of runway underneath #WhiteKnightTwo. The way cars are still streaming takeoff could be a while. First powered flight since fatal flight of Enterprise on March 31, 2014. Weather good some surface winds.

tnt22

Немного фактологии
ЦитироватьParabolicarc.com‏ @spacecom 3 мин. назад

#SpaceShipTwo Unity facts:
rolled out 19 Feb 2016.
First captive carry: 8 Sept 2016.
First glide: 3 Dec 2016.
Seven glide flights total.
Last glide 11 Jan 2018.
#VirginGalactic

tnt22


Olaf

https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/981908426405175296
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VMS Eve & VSS Unity are undergoing final pre-flight checks 

Olaf

https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/981910264919543810
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Take-off. VMS Eve & VSS Unity have taken to the skies 

tnt22

ЦитироватьRichard Branson‏Подлинная учетная запись @richardbranson 3 мин. назад

.@virgingalactic is in the air and planning for VSS Unity's first powered flight. Weather permitting, we could see a supersonic, vertical climb under rocket power in the next couple of hours. Watch this space!

tnt22


Olaf

https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/981913275347668992
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Today is 12th flight for VSS Unity #SpaceShipTwo, 246th for VMS Eve 

tnt22


tnt22

ЦитироватьTheSpaceshipCompany‏Подлинная учетная запись @TheSpaceshipCo 3 мин. назад

Ignition. VSS Unity's hybrid rocket motor is ignited by our pilots for today's planned partial burn duration

2 мин. назад

Rocket motor shutdown and coasting to apogee. The pilots will shortly raise the tail-booms of #SpaceShipTwo for "feathered" re-entry

1 мин. назад

The pilots have lowered the feather and are starting their glide back to @MojaveAirport

tnt22


tnt22

ЦитироватьVirgin Galactic‏Подлинная учетная запись @virgingalactic 6 сек. назад

Touch down. Congratulations Mark "Forger" Stucky and Dave Mackay for a great milestone test flight #SpaceShipTwo

tnt22

ЦитироватьRichard Branson‏Подлинная учетная запись @richardbranson 5 мин. назад

.@virgingalactic back on track. Successful powered flight, Mach 1.6. Data review to come, then on to the next flight. Space feels tantalisingly close now.

tnt22