On May 10, 2:47*pm, Robert Clark wrote:
*Interesting article he

SpaceShipTwo could be single stage to suborbit says ESA firm.
By Rob Coppinger
on April 29, 2010 4:24 PM
"Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo could be a single stage to suborbit
vehicle using liquid chemical propulsion according to independent
research carried out by a company that has been contracted by the
European Space Agency for suborbital and hypersonic transport
studies."
"... the UK firm came to the conclusion that the volume within which
SS2 carries its solid rocket motor and nitrous oxide supply could
equally hold a liquid chemical propulsion system capable of providing
enough thrust for long enough for a horizontal take-off and ascent to
50,000ft and above without the need for WK2."http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2010/04/spaceshiptwo-coul...

If you also filled up the passenger compartment with fuel leaving only
a pilot's cabin could it even become orbital?



Another interesting article:

Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShipTwo; Plans open architecture
spaceship.
By Larry Dignan | January 23, 2008, 7:42am PST
'“Our vision of White Knight 2 would be part of a much longer
development program. Have open architecture like Linux to allow other
people to develop new vehicles and revolutionize new industrial uses
of space,” said Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, Virgin’s
spaceline.
"Whitehorn clarified the open architecture point a bit: He said that
if interested parties come to Virgin and Scaled Composites they can
use key points such as WhiteKnightTwo’s wing to build new aircraft.
“We will work with people that come to work with us to do new things
with the WhiteKnightTwo. If people come to us we’ll work with them.”
"Whitehorn added that interested parties are already in discussions
about building off of the properties of WhiteKnightTwo, but wasn’t
going to name names. Overall, Virgin Galactic wasn’t detailing
technical details behind the spaceship effort."
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/virgin...spaceship/7678

If Virgin Galactic really is serious about this then I foresee
passenger orbital flights proceeding quite apace!


Bob Clark