Posts Tagged ‘Mojave’

Article Courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Todd G. Dickson

When Richard Branson dropped over the edge of the glass-walled balcony of the terminal hangar at Spaceport America Monday, Oct. 17, the danger was more for show to the 800 gathered there for a ceremonial dedication of the 110,152-square-foot facility. But after the champagne and speeches, Branson spent much of his time talking more to the press than to the 150 future passengers, to quell reports of competitors and test flight progress.

Emerging from the rust-colored curving steel doors from the hangar’s south end, Branson was fielding questions from a British journalist. Branson was critical of a report about a competitor – XCOR Aerospace, which is developing a suborbital spacecraft that will take a pilot and a passenger into suborbital space for about $100,000, starting in 2014, flying out from the island of Curacao off the coast of Venezuela.

Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceliner promises to take six passengers to suborbital space for $200,000 a flight from Spaceport America, 45 miles north of Las Cruces. “We’re the only one with a system that has actually gone to space, and we’re the only one with a spaceport facility like this,” Branson said. “People need to think about that before they pay $100,000 to go to South America.”

The reporters – as well as the other journalists and some of the future passengers – tried to pin Branson down on when he would begin flying out of Spaceport America.

The Virgin Galactic system launches its spaceship from midair using a hybrid rocket engine. The jet-powered mothership carrying the spaceship was as much the star at Monday’s event as Branson, but it didn’t perform a rumored glide test to the two-mile-long runway at Spaceport America. The spaceship has only performed glide flights as the new, larger hybrid engines are still being tested.

When asked about when the craft would be flying into space, Branson was only willing to say next year for the first rocket powered flight tests, but wouldn’t say exactly when he would begin flying passengers to achieve the first year goal of taking 500 people to space the first year of operations. Branson may have been hedging because the SpaceShipTwo almost didn’t make the ceremony.

In its 16th glide flight Sept. 29, SpaceShipTwo carried a three-person crew – two pilots and a flight test engineer – and made a clean release from WhiteKnightTwo at high altitude. But instead of taking its usual smooth glide flight, it “dropped like a rock and went straight down,” according to one observer. Springing into action, the crew deployed the ship’s novel feather re-entry system and was able to regain stability to make a safe landing after seven minutes, four minutes sooner than it should have landed. It is the first report of a flight “anomaly” for the liner-sized version of the system that made the first privately developed back-to-back spaceflights in 2004.

George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic’s chief executive officer and president, told Space.com that this is what flight testing is for and that Scaled Composites – which is creating the spaceliner in Mojave, Calif. – is reviewing the data to find out what happened.

That illustrates why Branson wouldn’t be more firm on the start date for regular flights. Branson told reporters that he couldn’t afford even the marginal failure rate of NASA space flight experience. In essence, Branson plans to conduct many test flights before those passengers are taken to space, with him and his family being the first passengers.

For the British billionaire, creating the spaceliner fleet is “the biggest dream of my lifetime” – and that’s saying something for a man who built an international business venture empire from the humble beginnings of a record store. “I still get goose bumps every time I think that I’m doing this,” Branson said.

Called “Keys to a New Dawn,” the terminal hangar dedication signals that construction is nearly finished on the $32.5 million building, which is designed by URS/Foster + Partners to both be modern and blend in with the surrounding desert. It is LEED certified Gold for its environmental sensitivities and energy efficiencies. Soon, Virgin Galactic designers and interior architects will begin working on making the insides of the hangar as otherworldly and up-scaled as the exterior.

For Virgin’s future passengers, it was a day to stare at the WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo and imagine what that one-hour trip into suborbital space will be like.

One of the newer passengers to put down a deposit on the $200,000 flight is Chandra Jessee of New York, who said she has become a believer that these trips into the upper edge of the planet’s atmosphere will make people more sensitive to the world they live in. “I think it (spaceflight access) can bring the world together,” she said. As she gazed upon the spaceliner and recalled its slow, circling flights overhead earlier, Jessee was clearly taken with the WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo. “It’s stunningly beautiful,” she said.

Article Courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News

By Diana M. Alba

UPHAM, N.M. – Bottle of champagne in hand, British billionaire and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson on Monday christened Spaceport America’s diamond feature – a $32.5 million terminal-hangar that one day will house the vehicles belonging to his fledgling spaceline – by rappelling off the building’s face, accompanied by a troupe of aerial dancers. It was Branson’s first visit to the under-construction, southern Sierra County spaceport since October of last year, when state officials formally dedicated a 10,000-foot runway.

Appearing with Branson for the first time was Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who took office at the start of the year. U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., and astronaut Buzz Aldrin, too, were among a crowd of about 720 dignitaries, spaceflight gurus and future suborbital-space tourists who attended the ceremony.

Martinez – who sparked concern among spaceport supporters at the start of her tenure because of her abrupt personnel changes – said the spaceport was at the start of the “second space age” and touted the 550 permanent jobs it will create. She said the number that could grow to 2,000. “It’s about jobs and helping people meet new challenges and fulfill dreams,” she said.

Branson dubbed the three-story, sting ray-shaped structure the “Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space,” a name previously OK’d by state spaceport officials.

Prior to the rappelling act, Branson and spaceport officials lauded the terminal-hangar building for its design.  Branson said it was notable not only for its impending use as a home to spacecraft but also its environmental friendliness. He described it as “one of the most beautiful, striking buildings you’ve ever seen.” “It’s a 21st century building for a 21st century business,” he said.

Several speakers highlighted an involvement of space researchers with Virgin Galactic flights, a growing market.

Construction of the spaceport’s first phase, including the terminal-hangar, runway and operations building, is about 93 percent done, officials have said. A second phase, which includes constructing visitors’ centers and paving a southern road to the remote site, is underway.

Making its second visit to the spaceport was the two-vehicle system, under development in Mojave, California that will launch from Spaceport America, possibly in 2013.

Future astronauts gather

Present Monday were more than 150 of the future astronauts – the largest gathering of future astronauts in history, said George Whitesides, president and CEO of Virgin Galactic.

Master pastry chef Eric Lanlard of the United Kingdom, the 117th spaceflight customer, expects to be aboard the 30th flight, once operations begin. He bought a ticket, he said, because of the historic nature of the venture. The visit was his first to the spaceport, though he’d previously seen the vehicles in Mojave, Calif. He described the hangar building as “impressive.” “This is where it’s all going to happen,” he said.

Construction on the terminal-hangar should be done in late November, nearly a year behind schedule, spaceport officials have said. State spaceport authority member David Buchholtz said the delayed schedule would be more concerning if Virgin Galactic already had finished its vehicle development, which it hasn’t. He said he’s pleased with progress made in the last month. “Ultimately our major job in the near- to mid-term is to make sure the construction is finished,” he said.

WhiteKnightTwo demo

The event started Monday morning with a take-off, demonstration and landing of WhiteKnightTwo, the Virgin Galactic aircraft that will carry SpaceShipTwo aloft for a mid-air launch, where it will rocket tourists to suborbital heights. In all, about 460 people to date have booked spaceflight seats, plunking down deposits totaling $58 million, Virgin Galactic officials said.

Spaceport officials have said they expect Spaceport America to boost tourism across southern New Mexico.

Virgin Galactic ticketholder Craig Curran of Rochester, N.Y., who’s also one of 65 space travel agents certified by the spaceline, said while other spaceport proposals exist, Spaceport America is on par to become the first operational commercial spaceflight facility in the world and that fact in itself will attract visitors. “As far New Mexico goes and Las Cruces, there’s no question: ‘This is the birthplace of human space travel – the average person, not just a professional astronaut or someone in the military,” he said.

Opponents of the spaceport contend it’s a waste of taxpayer money and that’s it’s subsidizing trips for the wealthy to space.

Not all in support

Invited guests only attended the event, hosted by Virgin Galactic. But at the gates of the spaceport, a handful of protesters, including one with a megaphone, caught the attention of tour buses arriving at the site. Some expressed frustration at the draining of at least one local family’s ground well, a consequence of pumping for spaceport construction. One sign read: “Occupy Spaceport.” Sierra County Sheriff Joe Baca said the protesters caused no problems.

Branson also unveiled the terminal-hangar’s new address: No. 1 Half Moon Street. The company has a noted house in London on Half Moon Street, he said.

To cap the day, six aerial dancers from the group, Project Bandaloop, tied off lines from the terminal-hangar’s second story, onto the face of a 250-foot long pane of windows that make up the building’s eastern face. Part way into their performance, Branson rappelled down and performed in the show.

Pearce said the project is not only an economic engine, but it’s also at the forefront of a new venture for humanity. “We have here a renewal of the human spirit that I think is going to infect the world,” he said.

Martinez told Branson she’s considering a new possibility. “I may have to add it to my bucket list – to fly into space,” she said.

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News

By Diana M. Alba

LAS CRUCES – NASA‘s recently announced plan to buy flights from two companies that will launch from Spaceport America gives the $209 million project a shot in the arm, as the facility preps for a ceremonial dedication of its largest building on Monday and the overall project inches closer to completion, supporters said last week.

NASA’s involvement adds credibility and boosts the viability of the spaceport, said state Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, who chairs the state oversight panel for the project. “We’re not just depending on Virgin Galactic,” she said of the spaceport’s future. “I think it’s something that we’d been hoping would happen.”

NASA booked at least one suborbital flight – with the option for buying two more – from Virgin Galactic, a space tourism company and the main Spaceport America tenant, the company said last week. And UP Aerospace Inc., a Denver-based commercial launch company, announced about a week ago that NASA awarded it a contract to launch payloads on two rocket flights, with the option for six additional flights.

“There’s some serendipity happening, where some of these research companies are finding the use of the Virgin system is a good way to test things and is certainly cheaper than launching rockets into orbit,” said Rick Holdridge of Deming, chairman of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. “There’s a market Virgin Galactic never really thought much of, but it’s starting to grow rapidly.”

Also, Virgin Galactic – a British company headed by billionaire Richard Branson – said last week it has collected $58 million in deposits from 455 would-be tourists who’ll launch to suborbital space from the spaceport, possibly starting in 2013, officials said.

‘Almost an icon’

About 500 people – invited guests only – are expected to attend a Virgin Galactic-hosted event Monday at the spaceport to christen the $32.5-million terminal-hangar facility, a sting ray-looking structure often depicted in spaceport images.  Gov. Susana Martinez, Congressman Steve Pearce and NASA representatives are expected to attend the ceremony, called the “Keys to a New Dawn.”

Monday’s event is significant because the terminal-hangar is “almost an icon” that signifies a major shift in the space industry, said New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director Christine Anderson. “You can say it’s just a building, but it’s really ushering in a new era,” said Anderson, who’s in charge of the state-owned spaceport. “And it’s happening right here in New Mexico.”

Still, spaceport opponents criticize the project, saying that they doubt it will be the economic engine backers claim and that it was a poor use of state Legislature funds. Others take aim at two sales taxes passed by voters in Dona Ana and Sierra counties that are helping to pay for spaceport construction.

Dona Ana County Commissioner Karen Perez said she remains skeptical about the spaceport and how many jobs it will create. Plus, she’s concerned there’s not yet a route paved for easier access to the spaceport from the south. “There’s nothing in the project that has changed substantially,” she said. “It’s a project we’re paying for and we’re still not benefiting from it.”

Not finished

The terminal-hangar construction, originally slated for completion in December 2010, was plagued by a series of problems, ranging from the lack of a permanent power supply to the remoteness of the southeastern Sierra County site to sluggish payments by the state to contractors. Despite Monday’s ceremony, the building isn’t ready for Virgin Galactic to take occupancy. Construction is expected to wrap up in late November, officials said. And a certificate of occupancy must be issued, at which point Virgin Galactic will take over and begin what could be a year of work further outfitting the building.

Overall, the first phase of construction – the terminal-hangar, an operations building, a 10,000-foot runway, three vertical launch pads, the paving of a northern road to the facility, water and wastewater systems and a power line to the site – is about 93 percent finished, Anderson said Friday.  Construction on the dome-shaped operations building, which will house security, EMS, firefighters, grounds keeping, the spaceport’s technical operations manager and the Spaceport Authority offices, likely will conclude in January or February 2012, according to Anderson.

The terminal-hangar on Monday will be dubbed the “Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space Building,” Holdridge said.

The installation of a power line to the spaceport site had potential to further stall the project’s first phase, considering a permanent electricity source is needed before the state can sign off on spaceport contractors’ work. But spaceport officials said the line is nearing completion. The power line had been installed and set to go online last week, when a company installing telecommunications accidentally cut through it. It could be repaired as early as next week, Anderson said.

State Rep. Andy Nunez, I-Hatch, a spaceport supporter, visited the site in August with a panel of lawmakers, and expressed concern construction wasn’t further along. “I hope they’ll be doing some catch-up,” he said. “I’d love to see that thing dedicated.”

The Spaceport Authority has begun Phase 2 of the project, which includes the visitors’ centers and a paved southern road to Spaceport America, Anderson said.

Lease payments

After the formal takeover, Virgin Galactic will begin paying $1 million a year in lease payments for use of the facility, Holdridge said. The payments would be prorated because its tenant status would start in the middle of the fiscal year.

“It’s going to be nice to see that major milestone take place with the dedication and the fact Virgin Galactic is going to be taking over responsibility for the facility,” said Jim Hayhoe, president of Spaceport America Consultants, a local company. “It’s a major milestone and it also starts some significant cash flow for the state to start getting some money back.”

Virgin Galactic has begun relocating staff to the Las Cruces area in preparation for the start of its space tourism flights, officials said.

Space vehicles

The development of Virgin Galactic’s two-vehicle system by the firm Scaled Composites continues at Mojave, Calif. In all, WhiteKnightTwo, the plane that will carry a spaceship aloft for a mid-air launch, had completed 73 flights through Sept. 29, according to a Scaled Composites flight log. Meanwhile, SpaceShipTwo had been dropped from the plane 16 times. It lands as a glider. The rocket motor that will power the spaceship to suborbital space after detaching from the plane is currently in testing, also at Mojave.

Symposium week

Also this week, industry officials, government officials and researchers will meet Tuesday to Thursday for the International Symposium for Personal Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces. A tour of Spaceport America is slated for participants on Friday. Holdridge said the symposium is a chance to showcase the spaceport. “Are there ways we can get more customers to the spaceport?” he said. “I’d love to see us find some new customers.”

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News

MOJAVE, CALIF. – NASA has booked at least one suborbital flight, with the possibility for two more, from Virgin Galactic, a spaceline that will launch from just north of Doña Ana County.

Virgin Galactic had previously announced it was among the commercial spaceflight companies selected by NASA to carry researchers and their experiments to space, but didn’t have specifics about the contracts. The agreement includes options for the two additional flights, and, if they’re exercised, the contract value would be $4.5 million, according to Virgin Galactic.

Virgin Galactic will launch its suborbital spaceflights from Spaceport America, about 45 miles north of Las Cruces. The company said in a news release the arrangement with NASA “dramatically increases the access researchers currently have to space.”

Each mission can carry about 1,300 pounds of scientific experiments, allowing for as many as 600 experiments per flight, the company said.

“Virgin Galactic will provide a flight test engineer on every flight to monitor and interact with experiments as necessary, a capability that has never before been available on suborbital vehicles,” the company said in a news release. “If requested, these experiments can be quickly accessed after landing, a feature critical to many types of experiments.”

Virgin Galactic, which also plans to carry tourists to space, to date has collected more than $58 million in deposits from 455 future passengers.

Said George Whitesides, president and CEO of Virgin Galactic, “An enormous range of disciplines can benefit from access to space, but historically, such research opportunities have been rare and expensive. At Virgin Galactic, we are fully dedicated to revolutionizing access to space, both for tourist astronauts and, through programs like this, for researchers.”

NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, managed by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., is contracting the flights.

Article courtesy of Las Cruces Sun-News

Courtesy of Sierra Nevada Corp.

By Diana M. Alba

LAS CRUCES – Spaceport America’s anchor tenant company, Virgin Galactic, announced recently it’s partnering with two other companies that have their sights set on orbital spaceflight.

The other companies, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. and the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., have submitted competing bids to NASA for a chance at flying U.S. astronauts to space after the shuttle program retires.

But don’t expect orbital flights to launch from Spaceport America any time soon.

For starters, Virgin Galactic’s proposed role seems limited at this point. The commercial spaceflight company has said it would market seats aboard orbital flights to its existing suborbital-flight customer base, as well as to the larger public, according to a company news release. Virgin Galactic may also have some involvement in vehicle testing for the companies’ development programs.

Also, potential launch locations for orbital vehicles are limited by infrastructure and regulation. That’s the case with Sierra Nevada Corp.’s proposal, said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of the company’s space systems division.

“It’s not possible for any of the companies’ orbital to fly out of New Mexico because of physics and logistics, so we all would be flying out of one of the coastal spaceports,” he said. “New Mexico doesn’t have a rocket port that can launch a vehicle of this size – we’re flying out of an Atlas V rocket.”

Continued Sirangelo: “And there still is a prohibition against doing this type of launch from an inland port.”

Both orbital companies would use expendable rockets to propel their spaceships upward. And the spaceships would return to Earth using conventional, runway landings.

That means Sierra Nevada Corp. could touch down its vehicle, called Dream Chaser, at Spaceport America, Sirangelo said.

“We could fly to Las Cruces as an entry point and land there, if we wanted to,” he said.

By comparison, Virgin Galactic launches its suborbital spaceship from a runway using a carrier plane, WhiteKnightTwo, and also lands on a runway.

Sirangelo acknowledged there’s nothing to restrict Dream Chaser’s landing to a spaceport. Because there will be no hazardous chemicals aboard, he said, “all we need is a normal, commercial runway to land, which is the same thing a 737 would use.”

Spaceport America executive director Rick Homans said the spaceport is communicating with Virgin Galactic “to understand better their relationship and role with these two proposals and also understanding the different technologies and companies they’re teaming with.” Spaceport America’s emphasis now, he said, is suborbital flights, though “we’re open to exploring ways to participate in this project.”

“All of this is relatively new, and I think everybody is sorting out the various relationships,” he said. “If there is a way to participate, we’d be eager to do so, but that requires some extensive discussions.”

Homans said that discussion would have to take place with the orbital spaceflight companies themselves.

Virgin Galactic, in a news release, said both companies’ vehicle designs could “revolutionize” orbital flight, the way its own vehicle, SpaceShipTwo, has “revolutionized suborbital spaceflight.”

Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic founder, said his company has focused on making suborbital space accessible to people.

“We know that many of those same people, including myself, would also love to take an orbital space trip in the future, so we are putting our weight behind new technologies that could deliver that safely,” while greatly reducing costs of manned, orbital flight, he said.

Other involvement

Sierra Nevada Corp. is the builder of the rocket motor Virgin Galactic is using in its suborbital system.

Virgin Galactic in a Dec. 16 announcement indicated the company may support Sierra Nevada Corp. and Orbital Sciences Corp. by using WhiteKnightTwo as a carrier plane during development.

“We would be doing our testing work, which means we’d take our vehicles up to a high altitude, drop it and learn how to fly it home, using the Virgin Galactic plane,” Sirangelo said. “And we’d likely being doing that work out of Spaceport America. It’s likely our testing program would be happening in both Mojave (Calif.) and New Mexico.”

Sirangelo said he couldn’t comment about whether Virgin Galactic is proposing to become an investor in his company, but he did say “the companies will likely explore other areas of mutual interest later.”

Representatives from Virgin Galactic and Orbital Sciences could not be reached for comment for this report.

Diana M. Alba can be reached at (575) 541-5443.