SpaceShipTwo accident

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10...g_test_flight/

I suppose in due course we will hear if it fell-down-went-boom or
went-boom-fell-down. My peanut gallery guess would be the former.
There were some helicopter shots of one of the booms which seemed to
show that part of the horizontal stabilizer in the middle of a range
of degree angle markings. My first guess was the craft was feathered
to a degree but that is just a guess from the peanut gallery.

There were no shots of the fuselage in the TV coverage I saw. Just
the tail booms.

rick jones
--
The glass is neither half-empty nor half-full. The glass has a leak.
The real question is "Can it be patched?"
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Le 31/10/2014 20:35, Rick Jones a écrit :
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10...g_test_flight/

I suppose in due course we will hear if it fell-down-went-boom or
went-boom-fell-down. My peanut gallery guess would be the former.
There were some helicopter shots of one of the booms which seemed to
show that part of the horizontal stabilizer in the middle of a range
of degree angle markings. My first guess was the craft was feathered
to a degree but that is just a guess from the peanut gallery.

There were no shots of the fuselage in the TV coverage I saw. Just
the tail booms.

rick jones


One pilot is dead, the other survived.

I do not think that Virgin will survive this failure. At 200 000 US$ the
ticket, people want security...

jacob navia wrote:
One pilot is dead, the other survived.

I do not think that Virgin will survive this failure. At 200 000 US$
the ticket, people want security...

Time will tell I suppose. And at least up until today ticket prices
for newer signups was $250,000 US *. The previous engine-test
(for a previous engine design) explosion that killed a few folks on
the ground didn't seem to kill it. We won't know if this was a straw
on the camel's back or not for a while yet.

It would seem that some later reports are quoting a witness who
reports the craft exploded shortly after separation and engine
ignition, so I suppose it was "went-boom-fell-down."

rick jones

* http://www.space.com/20886-virgin-ga...et-prices.html
from April 2013.

--
portable adj, code that compiles under more than one compiler
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Le 31/10/2014 23:30, Rick Jones a écrit :
The previous engine-test
(for a previous engine design) explosion that killed a few folks on
the ground didn't seem to kill it.

Yes, but now it is evident for everyone that Virgin has no motor!

The previous test failure, tragic as it was could be just a test
failure. But now they blew it.

The wife of the dead pilot cried on CNN:

THEY SACRIFIED HIM. THEY KNOW THIS MOTOR WILL NEVR GO TO SPACE!

Maybe is the huge pain of the loss, but I think she is right.
Virgin has no motor.

jacob

Le 31/10/2014 23:40, Fred J. McCall a écrit :
jacob navia wrote:


I do not think that Virgin will survive this failure. At 200 000 US$ the
ticket, people want security...


You're delusional. One failure in a test flight isn't going to kill
anything.


Of course not. But the fact that Virgin has no motor will. The motor
exploded in tests (killing several people) and now it exploses in flight.

The wife of the dead pilot cried in CNN:

THEY SACRIFIED HIM. THEY KNOW THIS MOTOR WILL NEVER GO TO SPACE!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10...g_test_flight/

"The SpaceShipTwo vehicle uses a solid-fuel rocket to boost itself into
low earth orbit before gliding back down to Earth."

I suppose it was too much to hope that the journo would have done any
research before writing the article.

Sylvia.

jacob navia wrote:

Of course not. But the fact that Virgin has no motor will. The motor
exploded in tests (killing several people) and now it exploses in
flight.

My understanding is it is a different motor in use today from the one
which exploded on the test stand several years ago now.

The wife of the dead pilot cried in CNN:

THEY SACRIFIED HIM. THEY KNOW THIS MOTOR WILL NEVER GO TO SPACE!

Link please. The main page story on www.cnn.com at about 1605 Pacific
time today:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/31/us/spa...html?hpt=hp_t1
makes no such assertion.

rick jones
--
Process shall set you free from the need for rational thought.
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Le 01/11/2014 00:05, Rick Jones a écrit :
jacob navia wrote:

Of course not. But the fact that Virgin has no motor will. The motor
exploded in tests (killing several people) and now it exploses in
flight.

My understanding is it is a different motor in use today from the one
which exploded on the test stand several years ago now.

The wife of the dead pilot cried in CNN:

THEY SACRIFIED HIM. THEY KNOW THIS MOTOR WILL NEVER GO TO SPACE!

Link please. The main page story on www.cnn.com at about 1605 Pacific
time today:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/31/us/spa...html?hpt=hp_t1
makes no such assertion.

rick jones


What?

You go to
www.cnn.com

THE MAIN ARTICLE is

TRAGEDY STRIKES
There is a photograph and at the right with several sentences. Below
there is

NEW (in red)

NEW Debris scattered in desert
NEW Branson flying to crash
NEW 'They stole my friend's life'

Click in the last one.
You will hear the wife of the pilot speaking.

QUOTE
This engine that exploded today, even if they had had a successful
flight, and even if they had not stolen my friend's life, they would NOT
get anywhere near space with this engine.

OK?

So I AM HERE TO SAY THAT THEY TOOK THIS PILOT'LIFE and this engine
still would not have gotten customers to space.

AND I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW THAT NOW.

And I know that Virgin Galactic will be very unhappy with me because I
tell the truth. But it is time that the truth be told and that is the truth!
END QUOTE

Virgin Galactic should be talking to XCOR IMHO.

And no this is not the same engine that killed ground test engineers some ten plus years back.

But I too have doubts about this engine being the one that will get them to space.

Condolences to the families of both pilots and I wish a speedy and full recovery for the injured pilot. VG had IIRC about 5 qualified pilots for SSOne with Mike Melville being the most senior although I think he's retired now.

Dave

In article ,
says...

jacob navia wrote:
One pilot is dead, the other survived.

I do not think that Virgin will survive this failure. At 200 000 US$ the
ticket, people want security...


You're delusional. One failure in a test flight isn't going to kill
anything.

Fred is right. This is precisely why test flights are flown. The
largely uninhabited south-west US dessert is used for test flights of
aircraft and spacecraft precisely because they do fail from time to
time.

We'll have to wait to find out if Virgin Galactic will continue to build
its second vehicle. And if so, what changes they will make to the
design to make it safer.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer