Virgin Galactic - Rocket Motor Test

[membland]

You can get into space at 10mph as long as you have enough (torque) (power)

[cornskid]

Short trip for 200K..it's not orbit capable...it would need to increase it's velocity from aprox 3500mph(?) to 17,500 mph to acheive orbit a factor of 5...it gets worse...you cannot simply carry 5 times the fuel due to the added fuel mass expended to carry the extra fuel, it gets rapidly out of hand....diminishing returns you know. Still combine Virgin Berts tech genius with say a ground based laser firing at a swhips reaction mass component using both ambient air and said reactiob mass...maybe

[trojansification]

WARNING!!!! HUMANS once you launch the virgin galactic the AAF(alien allied forces) will launch ten(10) highly powered missiles which can destroy your galaxy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!message­d by: polop (alien allied forces spokesalien )

[Jimbob8971]

this is a waste of money the flight is suborbital which means the whole flight only last 3-5 minutes. now you have to ask yourself is that really worth the money.

[EinkOLED]

The first american space flight (mercury redstone carrying john glen) was sub orbital. An orbital flight is only possible in a space rocket and would likely cost in the millions rather than in the thousands due to the considerable extra thrust rquired to achieve orbit. It is worth it because it is affordable for a small percentage of the world and an opportunity to look down on the earth at 350,000 feet, it is also much safer than orbital flight.

[GladiusDidimus]

@Jimbob8971 I dont know about you, but 200,000 thousands dollars all of a sudden seems worth it when you can look down on the entirety of Gods earth suspended there like a jewl in desolate space ontop of the massive braggin rights you get. ( hey everybody, I JUS WENT TO SPACE!!!)

[J1NB417741]

i remember when the idea for this ship first arose, saw pictures of it a long time ago and thought it was just going to be a prototype idea on the internet that never lifts off. Im glad to be proven wrong, now all we need is government backing, tell then to stop spending so much money on war and create more technology that will advance us. Could lead to better education of space and science. Could spark a higher demand in space travel!

[freerun4fun]

cool now lets wait abaut 30-50 years until the flight will be cheap enought for every human

[wrylie188]

he's like tony stark but cooler.

[ninemen123]

If there is some risk involved in a flight, and you just really need ballast to get the thing done, you'd have no shortage of volunteers. I'd come down tomorrow and do it untested lol, seriously strap the engine on and I'll have a crack at it ;) Mind you Branson is out of his mind himself so..he'd probably be game for it anyway.

[bboybieber]

how do thay land the galactic?

[covingtonium]

Airplanes are dumb and exploration is for gays.

[avidal7]

I always wonder what would be a way to prevent space junk for colliding with the ships? Specially when you see tv ads like Air Forces' manouvering a satellite out of a collision with junk.

Looks spectacular, congrats ViG.

[wrylie188]

@avidal7 Theres a lot of space junk in space, but theres also a lot of space. The chances of hitting space junk are very low.

[gokusslv7]

@avidal7 Shoot LASERS! AT IT!

[JoeBirdsey]

AWESOME :D

[docmordrid]

Cool :)

With SS2's mother ship, White Knight 2, now up to 52,400 feet and doing 2.5G turns in test flights things are looking good...