Virgin Galactic, Branson's space venture

[RCgothic]

Launcher One gets approval for testing in Guam:

 

[StrandedonEarth]

 

[RCgothic]

SpaceshipTwo may be exceptionally pointless, but it does look gorgeous.

[tater]

 

[RCgothic]

Launch window confirmed: 

 

[Ultimate Steve]

It's about time! It's been net next month for several months now.

[tater]

 

[tater]

 

[mikegarrison]

They were scheduled to have taken off an hour ago. Do we know if it happened?

[tater]

1 minute ago, mikegarrison said:

They were scheduled to have taken off an hour ago. Do we know if it happened?

Thought is they might take off at 11 Pacific (in ~20 min).

Just pulled up flightradar24, nothing on there yet.

No sooner do I post the above than I see this:

 

[mikegarrison]

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N744VG

This says 11:50.

[mikegarrison]

Flight was eventually scheduled for 11:40, but no word yet that it has taken off.

Flying laps around a "racetrack" is the same thing we do for noise testing, except our racetrack pattern includes simulated landings or takeoffs.

[mikegarrison]

Well ... flight aware still saying projected 11:40 takeoff, even though it is now 11:56.

OK, as I typed that, they changed it to 11:55 scheduled takeoff.

"En route".

The takeoff may have been delayed by weather. It appears there were some cells near the airport. Their takeoff route was a loop to the north and east, apparently to avoid flying through the weather.

They are now at FL275, following the flight path.

Now (12:20) crossing the coast and heading out over the water.

Edited May 25, 2020 by mikegarrison

[tater]

 

https://fr24.com/OBT01/248f28fa

OBT01

^^^ link to flight track.

[mikegarrison]

Their flight plan included a dog leg to avoid flying over some islands (Channel Islands National Park), but they have now diverged from that and appear to be cutting the corner on that dogleg.

Climbed to FL300.

They flew between the islands instead of around them.

They have entered their racetrack pattern. They are at FL300 instead of the planned FL290, but I assume an extra 1000 feet of altitude is, if anything, good.

Edited May 25, 2020 by mikegarrison

[mikegarrison]

 

12:43 Starting the turn at the north end of the racetrack.

12:45 Turn complete, heading toward launch position.

Edited May 25, 2020 by mikegarrison

[Nightside]

5 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

 

Ooh, this is the first try to actually launch something? But not the first flight of C.G.?

How is this system an improvement from the apparently unpopular Pegasus?

[mikegarrison]

12:51 Nearing the launch position

 

Interesting. Just before the launch they sped up, then traded that speed for altitude and popped up 7000 feet in a very steep climb. They must have launched sometime during that. Then they dropped back to FL300 and seem to be headed home.

Oops. It appears the launch did not go well after release.

They are again flying between the Channel Islands. I guess maybe they aren't supposed to actually overfly the islands because they are a National Park?

Edited May 25, 2020 by mikegarrison

[mikegarrison]

30 minutes ago, Nightside said:

not the first flight of C.G.?

"Cosmic Girl" is a 747-400 that was previously in service for Virgin Atlantic, so this is far from the first flight!

This was the first attempted powered launch. They have previously flown a drop test. (It seems from the twitter feed that they may have unintentionally just flown another drop test.)

At first I assumed they launched at the top of that pop-up maneuver, but now I wonder if maybe that was to ensure separation. Maybe they launch just before they pop up. I'm not sure how to find out.

OK, so their website says they are "angled skyward at about 27 degrees" during the release, so the release must happen during that pop-up.

Edited May 25, 2020 by mikegarrison

[mikegarrison]

46 minutes ago, Nightside said:

How is this system an improvement from the apparently unpopular Pegasus?

Quoted Pegasus launch price is >$40M. Quoted Virgin Orbit launch price is $12M. (Prices as listed on Wikipedia.) They seem to have similar payload capacities.

Their target market appears to be 400kg satellites launched into sun-synchronous orbit.

Edited May 25, 2020 by mikegarrison

[tater]

4 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

Quoted Pegasus launch price is >$40M. Quoted Virgin Orbit launch price is $12M. (Prices as listed on Wikipedia.) They seem to have similar payload capacities.

Their target market appears to be 400kg satellites launched into sun-synchronous orbit.

https://rideshare.spacex.com/search?orbitClassification=2&launchDate=2020-09-25&payloadMass=400

Price: 2M$.

Looks like they might need to drop their price some...

I suppose they can pitch rapid deployment? Pay an extra 10M for getting it flown faster?

[Ultimate Steve]

1 hour ago, tater said:

https://rideshare.spacex.com/search?orbitClassification=2&launchDate=2020-09-25&payloadMass=400

Price: 2M$.

Looks like they might need to drop their price some...

I suppose they can pitch rapid deployment? Pay an extra 10M for getting it flown faster?

They can also reach more orbits because they can launch from the equator. Not sure how useful this would be, but someone will probably have a use for it.

[mikegarrison]

1 hour ago, tater said:

https://rideshare.spacex.com/search?orbitClassification=2&launchDate=2020-09-25&payloadMass=400

Price: 2M$.

Looks like they might need to drop their price some...

I suppose they can pitch rapid deployment? Pay an extra 10M for getting it flown faster?

Can't "rideshare" to a SSO. Or at least, it's very unlikely. That's why they are focused on the SSO market. Typically the buyer is going to want a sat positioned just *exactly* so.

[mikegarrison]

So the rocket ignited, but an "anomaly" "terminated" the flight a few seconds later.

Obviously they must have had a chase plane.

[tater]