SpaceShipTwo "feathered" test flight

[montanadave]

I don't know squat about aeronautics (despite my extensive hands-on experience with Estes rockets in the late sixties) but this looks like a pretty impressive piece of engineering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqhzlq7UReA

Wish I could afford the $200K ticket. :sad:

Think Sir Richard will accept my CapitalOne sky miles?

[Cagemonkey]

Awesome video. Burt Rutan is a genius.

[BrianS]

What is the purpose of this vehicle? My understanding is it is never intended to reach orbit.

Some kind of space age Concorde? Like it takes off, barely enters space and then lands on the other side of the world after a really fast transit?

[jwfuhrman]

Its a stepping stone towards commercial space flight. When the average person can travel to space. When a ticket to space is the same cost as a flight to your favorite vacation spot.

I, for one, am all for what Virgin Galactic is doing. Sir Richard is a good man for spending his own hard earned money basically telling the worlds Governments that Space is not just for some Astronaut.

[chadbag]

Can some rocket scientist explain what I just looked at?

(in terms of what "feathered" means and what this test flight was looking to accomplish?)

[montanadave]

Can some rocket scientist explain what I just looked at?

(in terms of what "feathered" means and what this test flight was looking to accomplish?)

Check out the VirginGalactic website: http://www.virgingalactic.com/

Click on the "Overview" tab, then "Safety" for some additional information about Rutan's "shuttlecock" design and the feathered re-entry.

I'd break it down for ya but I ain't no "rocket scientist." :no:

[Heavy Metal]

We are entering the second era of manned spaceflight and most people are totally unaware of it.

The suborbital stuff is neat and eventually might be where an average family can afford it but the real action is Orbital.

SpaceX is building a manned capsule and booster already flown both unmanned. Building the largest unmaned booster since th eSaturn V with half it's lift capacity.

Blue Orgin is backed with Jeff Bezo's 17 billion dollar net worth and has announced his intent to built a true, fully reusable space transport. Most of what he is doing is in secret.

Robert Bigelow, another Billionare, is planning on building several large space stations in Earth Orbit and leasing them out.

All of those listed above ultimately want to put a man or Mars.

[militarymoron]

Can some rocket scientist explain what I just looked at?

(in terms of what "feathered" means and what this test flight was looking to accomplish?)

the 'feathered' configuration creates drag to slow the descent of the vehicle by creating a non-streamlined configuration, to reduce heat on the vehicle. this flight was a test of that configuration, to see whether it worked as planned.

[Ridge_Runner_5]

the 'feathered' configuration creates drag to slow the descent of the vehicle by creating a non-streamlined configuration, to reduce heat on the vehicle. this flight was a test of that configuration, to see whether it worked as planned.

I figured it was so they could pitch up to reduce speed while maintaining control authority by keeping the control surfaces in the direction of travel...?

[montanadave]

From the VirginGalactic website:

Wing Feathering for Re-Entry

Perhaps the most radical safety feature employed by SpaceshipOne and now SpaceShipTwo is the unique way it returns into the dense atmosphere from the vacuum of space. This part of space flight has always been considered as one of the most technically challenging and dangerous and Burt Rutan was determined to find a failsafe solution which remained true to Scaled Composite's philosophy of safety through simplicity. His inspiration for what is known as the feathered re-entry was the humble shuttlecock, which like SpaceShipTwo relies on aerodynamic design and laws of physics to control speed and altitude.

Once out of the atmosphere the entire tail structure of the spaceship can be rotated upwards to about 65º. The feathered configuration allows an automatic control of attitude with the fuselage parallel to the horizon. This creates very high drag as the spacecraft descends through the upper regions of the atmosphere. The feather configuration is also highly stable, effectively giving the pilot a hands-free re-entry capability, something that has not been possible on spacecraft before, without resorting to computer controlled fly-by-wire systems.

The combination of high drag and low weight (due to the very light materials used to construct the vehicle) mean that the skin temperature during re-entry stays very low compared to previous manned spacecraft and thermal protection systems such as heat shields or tiles are not needed. Following re-entry at around 70,000ft, the feather lowers to its original configuration and the spaceship becomes a glider for the flight back to the spaceport runway.