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Virgin Galactic and Orbital



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 16th 10, 12:39 AM posted to sci.space.history
Rick Jones[_3_]
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Default Virgin Galactic and Orbital

Seems the folks at www.space.com are reporting that Virgin Galactic
and Orbital Sciences are going to work together on orbital
transportation.

rick jones
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  #2  
Old December 16th 10, 03:55 AM posted to sci.space.history
Pat Flannery
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Default Virgin Galactic and Orbital

On 12/15/2010 3:39 PM, Rick Jones wrote:
Seems the folks at www.space.com are reporting that Virgin Galactic
and Orbital Sciences are going to work together on orbital
transportation.


This will take you straight to the article:
http://www.space.com/news/virgin-gal...ct-101215.html
Virgin Galactic said they were looking into something like this a few
years back, under the concept name "SpaceShip 3".
Two problems with this idea are that Atlas V's aren't cheap, and lifting
body RV's tend to be heavier than ballistic capsules that have the same
cargo/crew capabilities; which is why no one has ever built a
operational system using a lifting body RV, despite a lot of them being
designed starting in the 1960's.

Pat
  #4  
Old December 16th 10, 05:38 PM posted to sci.space.history
Pat Flannery
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Default Virgin Galactic and Orbital

On 12/16/2010 5:36 AM, Dan Birchall wrote:


Hmm... the HL-20 RV mentioned in the article weighs in at 10,000kg empty;
figure 11,000kg with crew. You can put that much into LEO with pretty much
_any_ expendable heavy-lifter nowadays, can't you?


That's what they say the HL-20 is _supposed_ to weigh when actually
built...the history of small spaceplanes is one of them coming in a lot
heavier when they are actually ready to be built than when originally
planned. The ESA Hermes spaceplane suffered so much weight growth due to
having to carry an expendable rear module to assist cooling (the problem
with a reentry TPS is that keeps heat in the spacecraft in orbit as well
as out of it on the way back down) that it rapidly outgrew the lifting
capability of the Ariane V booster, and rather than having to redesign
the Ariane, ESA just canceled the whole program:
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/hermes.htm

Pat

 




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