SpaceShip III

Last updated
SpaceShip III
TypeSpaceplane
ManufacturerVirgin Galactic

SpaceShip III (SS3, also with Roman numeral III; formerly SpaceShipThree) is an upcoming class of spaceplanes by Virgin Galactic to follow SpaceShipTwo. It was first teased on the Virgin Galactic Twitter account on 25 February 2021 announcing the rollout of the first SpaceShip III plane on 30 March 2021. [1]

Contents

Concept evolution

The purpose originally proposed for SpaceShipThree in 2005 was for commercial orbital spaceflight, as part of a program called "Tier 2" by Burt Rutan founder of Scaled Composites. [2] [3]

By 2008, Scaled Composites had reduced those plans and articulated a conceptual design that would be a point-to-point vehicle traveling outside the atmosphere. [4] By 2008, the SpaceShipThree concept was to be used for transportation through point-to-point suborbital spaceflight with the spacecraft providing, for example, a two-hour trip on the Kangaroo Route (from London to Sydney or Melbourne). [4]

Scaled was sold to Northrop Grumman in 2007, [5] and references to further work on a conceptual Scaled SS3 ended at some point afterwards from Scaled. Scaled was realigned by Northrop Grumman in 2015 as a research unit. [6] Virgin Galactic acquired full control of The Spaceship Company in 2012, the manufacturer of SS2. [7] The technology was built upon the base technology owned by Mojave Aerospace Ventures of Paul Allen, originally licensed in 2004. [8] [9] As Allen died in 2018, [10] subsequent space activities of the Vulcan Group went inactive.

By 2016, Richard Branson was still planning to have a point-to-point sub-orbital spaceliner follow-up to SpaceShipTwo, for Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company. [11]

Revised concept

The current SpaceShip III is designed to provide just a few minutes of weightlessness and views for space tourists for Virgin Galactic, and is a production version of SpaceShipTwo, [12] with improved maintenance and flight rate performance. It does not have point to point transportation capabilities as previously envisioned in 2016. [11]

In early 2021, Virgin Galactic teased an upcoming vehicle on their Twitter account with the name shown in stylized font as "SPACESHIP 3". [1]

Development

The first Spaceship III, VSS Imagine, was rolled out on 30 March 2021. On that occasion, it was indicated there was ground testing to be done before glide test flights could commence, no earlier than the summer of 2021. [12]

List of vehicles

NameUnveil dateIn-service dateOut-of-service dateNotes
VSS Imagine 2021TBATBAFirst SSIII [13]
VSS Inspire TBATBATBASecond announced SSIII [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scaled Composites</span> American aerospace company

Scaled Composites is an American aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman. It is located at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, United States. Founded to develop experimental aircraft, the company now focuses on designing and developing concept craft and prototype fabrication processes for aircraft and other vehicles. It is known for unconventional designs, for its use of non-metal, composite materials, and for winning the Ansari X Prize with its experimental spacecraft SpaceShipOne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceShipOne</span> American experimental spaceplane

SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 ft/s (2,000 mph) / 910 m/s (3,300 km/h) using a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique "feathering" atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folds 70 degrees upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increases drag while retaining stability. SpaceShipOne completed the first crewed private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. Its mother ship was named "White Knight". Both craft were developed and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company. Allen provided the funding of approximately US$25 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burt Rutan</span> American aerospace engineer

Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the record-breaking Voyager, which in 1986 was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. He also designed the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, which in 2006 set the world record for the fastest and longest nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation flight in history. In 2004, Rutan's sub-orbital spaceplane design SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space, winning the Ansari X-Prize that year for achieving the feat twice within a two-week period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mojave Air and Space Port</span> Facility located in Mojave, California

The Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field is in Mojave, California, United States, at an elevation of 2,801 feet (854 m). It is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft, being certified as a spaceport by the Federal Aviation Administration on June 17, 2004. The facility covers 2,998 acres and has three runways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scaled Composites Tier One</span> Suborbital human spaceflight program using the reusable spacecraft SpaceShipOne

Tier One was a Scaled Composites' 1990s–2004 program of suborbital human spaceflight using the reusable spacecraft SpaceShipOne and its launcher White Knight. The craft was designed by Burt Rutan, and the project was funded 20 million US Dollars by Paul Allen. In 2004 it made the first privately funded human spaceflight and won the 10 million US Dollars Ansari X Prize for the first non-governmental reusable crewed spacecraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgin Galactic</span> Space tourism company

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The company is developing commercial spacecraft and aims to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two. Virgin Galactic's maiden spaceflight occurred in 2018 with its VSS Unity spaceship. Branson had originally hoped to see a maiden spaceflight by 2010, but the date was delayed for several years, and then delayed again, primarily due to the October 2014 crash of VSS Enterprise.

Mojave Aerospace Ventures (MAV) is a company founded by Paul Allen and Burt Rutan to handle the commercial spinoffs from the Tier One project. It owns the intellectual property arising from Tier One, and it is in turn owned by Allen and Rutan's Scaled Composites. In 2004, it signed a deal with Virgin Galactic to develop the Virgin SpaceShip, a suborbital spacecraft, for space tourism. Virgin Group and Scaled Composites have subsequently formed a joint venture, The Spaceship Company, to manufacture the spacecraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air launch</span>

Air launching is the practice of releasing a rocket, missile, parasite aircraft or other aircraft payload from a mother ship or launch aircraft. The payload craft or missile is often tucked under the wing of the larger mother ship and then "dropped" while in flight. It may also be stored within a bomb bay, beneath the main fuselage or even on the back of the carrier aircraft, as in the case of the D-21 drone. Air launching provides several advantages over ground launching, giving the smaller craft an altitude and range boost, while saving it the weight of the fuel and equipment needed to take off on its own.

VSS<i> Enterprise</i> SpaceShipTwo (SS2) spaceplane

VSS Enterprise was the first SpaceShipTwo (SS2) spaceplane, built by Scaled Composites for Virgin Galactic. As of 2004, it was planned to be the first of five commercial suborbital SS2 spacecraft planned by Virgin Galactic. It was also the first ship of the Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo class, based on upscaling the design of record-breaking SpaceShipOne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceShipTwo</span> Suborbital spaceplane for space tourism

The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It is manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scaled Composites White Knight Two</span> SpaceShipTwo mother ship

The Scaled Composites Model 348 White Knight Two (WK2) is a quadjet cargo aircraft that is used to lift the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft to release altitude. It was developed by Scaled Composites from 2007 to 2010 as the first stage of Tier 1b, a two-stage to suborbital-space crewed launch system. WK2 is based on the successful mothership to SpaceShipOne, White Knight, which itself is based on Proteus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Spaceship Company</span> Spacecraft manufacturing company

The Spaceship Company (TSC) is a British/American spacecraft manufacturing company that was founded by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson in mid-2005 and was jointly owned by Virgin Group (70%) and Scaled Composites (30%) until 2012 when Virgin Galactic became the sole owner. TSC was formed to own the technology created by Scaled for Virgin Galactic's Virgin SpaceShip program. This includes developments on the care-free reentry system and cantilevered-hybrid rocket motor, licensed from Paul Allen and Burt Rutan's Mojave Aerospace. The company is manufacturing Virgin Galactic's spacecraft and will sell spacecraft to other buyers. The suborbital launch system offered will include the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft and the White Knight Two carrier aircraft.

VSS <i>Unity</i> American commercial sub-orbitable space ship

VSSUnity, previously referred to as VSS Voyager, is a SpaceShipTwo-class suborbital rocket-powered crewed spaceplane. It is the second SpaceShipTwo to be built and is part of the Virgin Galactic fleet. It first reached space as defined by the United States on 13 December 2018, on the VP-03 mission.

VMS<i> Eve</i> Virgin Galactic mother ship

VMS Eve is a carrier mothership for Virgin Galactic and launch platform for SpaceShipTwo-based Virgin SpaceShips.

RocketMotorTwo (RM2) is a family of hybrid rocket engines developed for the Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane.

VSS <i>Enterprise</i> crash Inflight break-up of VSS Enterprise

The VSS Enterprise crash occurred on October 31, 2014, when the VSS Enterprise, a SpaceShipTwo experimental spaceflight test vehicle operated by Virgin Galactic, suffered a catastrophic in-flight breakup during a test flight and crashed in the Mojave Desert near Cantil, California. Co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed and pilot Peter Siebold was seriously injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Alsbury</span> American test pilot (1975–2014)

Michael Tyner Alsbury was an American test pilot for Scaled Composites. He died on October 31, 2014, during test flight PF04 of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise.

VSS <i>Unity</i> VP-03 First SpaceShipTwo spaceflight

VP-03 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity which took place on 13 December 2018, piloted by Mark P. Stucky and co-piloted by Frederick W. "CJ" Sturckow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark P. Stucky</span> American astronaut

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References

  1. 1 2 Virgin Galactic [@VirginGalactic] (February 25, 2021). "The Future of the Fleet. Rollout, March 30th" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ↑ "SpaceShipThree poised to follow if SS2 succeeds". Flight International. FlightGlobal. 23 August 2005. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
  3. ↑ Leonard David (11 August 2006). "Burt Rutan on Civilian Spaceflight, Breakthroughs, and Inside SpaceShipTwo". Space.com.
  4. 1 2 SpaceShipThree revealed?, FlightGlobal Hyperbola, Rob Coppinger, 29 Feb 2008
  5. ↑ "Northrop buys the rest of Scaled Composites". Albuquerque Business First. Business Journals. 27 August 2007.
  6. ↑ James Drew (6 August 2015). "Northrop realigns Scaled Composites under advanced research unit". Flight Global.
  7. ↑ "Virgin Galactic Acquires Full Ownership of The Spaceship Company". Business Wire. 5 October 2012.
  8. ↑ "Exhibit 10.27: Spacecraft Technology License Agreement". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. EX-10.27.
  9. ↑ "Virgin Group Sign Deal with Paul G. Allen's Mojave Aerospace". SpaceRef. 27 September 2004.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ Steve Lohr (15 October 2018). "Paul G. Allen, Microsoft's Co-Founder, Is Dead at 65". New York Times.
  11. 1 2 Irene Klotz (19 February 2016). "Branson's Virgin Galactic moves to return to space race". Reuters.
  12. 1 2 "Meet VSS Imagine: Virgin Galactic unveils its first SpaceShip III spacecraft". Space.com . 30 March 2021.
  13. 1 2 Darrell Etherington (30 March 2021). "Virgin Galactic debuts its first third-generation spaceship, 'VSS Imagine'". TechCrunch.
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